Date: Aug 08, 2012 Source:
On August 8th 2012 the Mars Curiosity Rover activated its Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) sensor which is the first sensor to measure radiation on another planet. RAD was designed by Boulder Colorado’s Southwest Research Institute. The RAD uses the Nova R&D VIRENA mixed signal ASIC designed by SemQuest as the integrated sensor and signal processing device for the RAD. One of the missions for the sensor is to determine if radiations levels on Mars are safe for future manned missions to Mars. Southwest Research Institute was able to meet the demanding size, weight and power requirements for the curiosity rover by leveraging the low power and highly integrated ASIC.
