Curiosity Rover Research Paper

In the article “Mars Shows Signs of Having Flowing Water, Possible Niches for Life, NASA Says” written by Kenneth Chang the central idea is that there is a probability of life on another planet other than Earth. The reason this article is important to us is because with these findings, researchers will be eager to follow up on the discovery so that we can find out if the probable signs of liquid water flowing mean that life could sustain on Mars. For many years scientists have been interested in knowing whether or not there is other life and if there has previously been life on other planets. With this discovery, we are getting closer to coming up with possible answers.

Look up at the night sky, see the stars, planets and our closest neighbor, the moon. Every human being at one point in his or her life has done this same thing. It is only natural to look up and wonder in awe at whats out there. Human beings are made with an innate desire to expand and explore. In the 1950s when there was no more of Earth to discover, people started looking upwards at the sky to satisfy this internal desire. Hungry for dominance and technological innovation, the United States created NASA and embarked on what would become the greatest voyage in human history. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, space travel and the technology which powered it advanced far beyond what any prior civilization could imagine. Inspiring in humanity hope for a future not on Earth. An analysis of the effects of the NASA space program on the United States reveals a radical shift in educational policies, an influx of new an innovative technologies, and a renewed motivation and hope for the future.

NASA’s space shuttle orbiter Challenger was an engineering failure that shocked the US when it blew up 73 seconds into its flight after its launch from Florida in 1986, killing all seven of its crew. The cause of the failure was that the shuttle’s O-ring seal in the right rocket booster failed while at liftoff, allowing pressurized gas from the rocket to reach the adjacent SRB aft field joint attachment hardware and external fuel tanks, causing structural failure and aerodynamic forces to tear it apart. The O-ring wasn’t designed to operate under the very cold conditions during the launch.

To quote Star Trek, “Space, the final frontier,” and what a truth that is. As a race, there is only so much expansion that we can make before someone starts looking for the new, untapped frontier. Previously, there were beliefs that Earth’s solar system didn’t hold any weight in that department, that either everything was either too far away or just held an Earth-like material. As was the case with Mars; becoming a legend in books and dreams, then transforming into a red desert of a planet. Nonetheless, NASA pushed on and continued to study the planet. Their perseverance on Mars led to a rover landing, which entail led to the most anticipated discovery of the decade: water.

The landing of Apollo 11 on the moon on July 20th, 1969, was a great success for the United States of America and the entire world. It was the beginning of an era that would let technology grow and allow us to explore the corners of our Galaxy. That day one small step for man towards the understanding of reality past of world. Although, outer space is an unknown abyss, that is larger that a human mind can comprehend; space exploration has merit because it lets us to get a peek into the wonders that the Universe gives.

Many experts say that at one point Mars contained life. Countless numbers of missions have been sent to Mars to see if life could really exist. Two rovers in particular were Spirit and Opportunity. The rover Spirit was launched out of NASA on June 10, 2003, and Opportunity was launched on July 7, 2003. When they landed on Mars in 2004, they were able to come upon a variety of rocks that indicated that Mars was defined by impacts, explosive volcanism, and subsurface water. Odd-looking bright patches of soil turned out to be extremely salty and affected by past water. Not only did this mission get us closer to finding out if life existed on Mars it helped us

The Mars Science Laboratory mission and its Curiosity rover mark a transition between the themes of "Follow the Water" and "Seek Signs of Life." In addition to landing in a place with past evidence of water, Curiosity is seeking evidence of organics, the chemical building blocks of life. Places with water and the chemistry needed for life potentially provide habitable conditions. Future Mars missions under the science theme "Seek Signs of Life" would likely be designed to search for life itself in places identified as potential past or present

In the 1960’s, the very thought of landing a human being on the moon was preposterous. It couldn’t be done. Fortunately, Neil Armstrong and NASA did not get the memo and on July 20th, 1969, Armstrong made the small step for man and the giant leap for mankind by setting foot somewhere no one had before, proving not only the entire nation, but the entire world wrong. This feat, not only changed the way we see earth, but our perception of how much, we as humans, can achieve when we simply challenge the idea of “it can’t be done.” Neil Armstrong’s giant step for mankind paved the way for modern astronomy and space exploration; the scientists who designed the rocket pioneered the study of space and allowed an organization like NASA to be both widely

Scientists have been baffled by the existence of life on Earth where conditions have been thought to be uninhabitable. The existence of these extremophile species, organisms living in conditions thought to be unable to sustain life, on earth gives a boost to the possibility of outside life. Science also does not have a full grasp on exactly what conditions are necessary to cause life to bloom (McAlpine). Just because life is thought to only be able to thrive in certain conditions on Earth, does not mean extraterrestrial life is bound by the same rules, especially if terrestrial species are known to occasionally break the rules. Discovery of life existing away from planet Earth that does not meet the preceded notions of what life must be like would lead scientists to better understand how life functions and performs under countless situations and conditions. Space itself supports this as “we’ve discovered things such as oceans in places we thought they couldn’t exist” (Drake). Oceans on earth are home to millions of species and are hubs for aforementioned extremophile species, most of which remain unknown to modern science. Since oceans on Earth are teeming with mysterious undiscovered life, there is no telling what awaits at the bottom of deep space oceans. If scientists can understand how species may be able to thrive in previously thought to be unlivable conditions, scientists can use those discoveries to help humanity explore areas that would otherwise be perilous. Or perhaps, scientists could potentially use understandings of extraterrestrial life to help humanity form a second home among the

Today’s scientists would agree that no planet has been more “steeped in myths and misconception” than Mars. Just about a hundred years ago, several scientists sincerely believed that extraterrestrial life was present on planet Mars, so the US government listened for radio signals from Mars until 1924. In movies such as Flight to Mars (1951), Mars was portrayed as a scary, mysterious place inhabited by hostile aliens which we know today is false. However, in 1965, NASA and JPL sent the first spacecraft, Mariner 4, to fly by Mars. Today, there are seven active missions that are being used to collect more data, including two rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, which explore the surface.

WATER ON MARS! This is a common headline that has been found countless times in newspaper and website articles since Martians and other aliens were first popularized in the media. But why exactly are we even looking for water on mars? And why are we searching for beings not first theorized by scientists, but by legend and popular culture? Because life exists or has existed somewhere in our universe besides Earth. They may not be the green, humanoid Martians that we have thought up or even something we can see with our current technology, but it exists or did at one point.

Mars has been an enigma in the human mind for centuries. Civilizations studied the planet as it traversed the sky, believing it to be an ethereal power. Even today, the planet fascinates both the scientific and public viewpoint. Many movies and books are set on Mars, including H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds and Andy Weir’s The Martian. Both novels increase public interest in the celestial body by “humanizing” the planet with the presence of intelligent lifeforms and introducing the need for familiarity beyond Earth. The need for familiarity has led governmental space agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency, to launch missions to Mars. Internationally, forty-three missions have studied

According to NASA’s research on aliens and life outside of Earth, the main idea of their research is to travel to distant planets in search for signs of life. NASA has done many projects and conducted a lot of research regarding this topic. One of the projects that they have done is send a rover named Curiosity to Mars. This rover was sent there to collect data, pictures, and any sign of life. Some of the things that the rover found were strange writing on rocks as well as tall rock structures that resembled Mayan sculptures. Other experiments that they have done are evaluating the atmosphere on other planets and comparing them to Earth. The point of this is to see if these certain planets are suitable for life or not. In the diagram, it shows

Mars has long been an unachievable goal for all nations. Starting in 1969, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) aimed to change that. With missions ranging from observing climate to taking photos, NASA has examined the surface, atmosphere, and subsurface of Mars. In 2011, NASA launched the Curiosity rover with the goal of discovering organic compounds essential to life on the surface of Mars (Administrator, 2017). This mission, Vit Rover, named after the prefix meaning life, will continue the work of the Curiosity rover and answer three questions: Can the organic compounds on Earth sustain life? What kind of life does the climate of Mars permit, if any? Can humans and Martian life coexist without disruption? These questions

Exploring the universe has gradually become an important mission for many scientists for last few decades. In 1969, the United States successfully finished the first manned mission to the moon. People celebrated and were proud of their abilities. Soon, as the development of technology, scientists are able to reaching further planets in the universe. Mars, as one of the most similar and closet planets to Earth, is the first few planets that scientists are interested in.