Mars Exploration Rover Research Paper

A question that has been asked for many reasons in the space world: Is there life on other planets? A mission called Curiosity launched in 2011. Curiosity has been on Mars since August.Curiosity’s goal was to find signs of water and see if Mars was suitable for life. The surprising fact on Mars is there is presence of water. One key element was Mars once had habitable conditions and there looks to be ice on the planet. Curiosity has been using a camera to take photos of Mars. It is much like the panoramic camera we have on Earth. Both cameras have the same material incorporated in them and are used for the same purpose.

"We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life that probably, if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, said at the

The topic of Mars has long been of interest to astronomers and science fiction enthusiast alike. The premise of another planet supporting life excites people like no other. In 2004, The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, began preliminary science experiments and instrument proposals for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and a robotic space probe mission to Mars. After long testing and development stages, the mission birthed a rover, Curiosity, which was launched in November 2011 and subsequently landed August 6th 2012. As we speak Curiosity is collecting invaluable data for our understanding of mars including: habitability, climate and geology, and possibly setting up a manned mission to mars in the

With this new program, NASA sent two spacecraft to the Red Planet, Pathfinder and the Mars Global Surveyor, both of which reached their destination the following year. (Snyder) Pathfinder returned a wealth of information, including weather data and soil analyses. The Mars Global Surveyor provided details on the planet’s seasons and notorious dust storms. In addition, Spirit and Opportunity, a pair of rovers launched several years later, have been exploring the Martian surface in great detail. Both have baffled scientists with their ability to continue functioning long after their original 90-day operational window. (National Geographic)

Spirit stumbled across rocks that pointed to an earlier, unrulier Mars that was marked by impacts, explosive volcanism and subsurface water [source: NASA Mars]. "Water is key because almost everywhere we find water on Earth we find life," NASA's Web site. However, we are still unsure life existed on Mars.

The Mars rover Curiosity is one the world’s most advanced space exploration robot ever built, being used to discover whether Mars is/was suitable for life while also studying the planet’s climate, biology, geology, geochemistry, planetary processes, and surface radiation. The data collected will also help future exploration missions, most importantly future human exploration missions.

These missions solved some mysteries, such as dispelling the long-held myth of Martian canals that evidenced an ancient civilization. They also raised many new questions, such as the nature of ancient riverbeds that point to the presence of ancient liquid water on the planet.

Currently NASA is working on exploring Mars. They send rovers to collect samples of the Mars terrain. NASA has found some sort of plant life on Mars which leads them to believe that there is water on Mars or previously was. This

NASA has used both spacecr aft and robots to learn more about Mars. In 1965, Mariner 4 was the first NASA spacecraft to get a close look at the planet. In 1976, Viking 1 and Viking 2 were the first NASA spacecraft to land on Mars. They took pictures and explored the planet’s surface. Since then, more spacecraft have flown near or landed on Mars. They revealed Mars to be a barren world, without any signs of the life or civilizations people had imagined there. In 1971, Mariner 9 orbited Mars, mapping about 80 percent of the planet and discovering its volcanoes and

Arriving at Mars since 2012, the goal of Curiosity mission is to analyze if this planet can be livable. After two Martian years, the project present some important discovering. First, the Curiosity's Rover Environmental Monitoring Station indicate that Mars temperatures were cooler than the Earth temperatures. For instance, in summer, the temperature could reach 60.5 degrees Fahrenheit, while in winter it could reach minus 148 degrees Fahrenheit. (JET).In addition, “Curiosity has discovered light-toned rocks that contrast with basaltic samples found in younger regions12.” (V Sautter) these discovered lead some analysts to believe that they could be a life in this planet many years ago. (CNES) Even if these discovering

In 2011, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, the rover given name as Mars Curiosity, began to inspect the Martian rocks to conclude the geologic procedures that created them and to explore more about the present and past habitability of Mars. Among its findings is the first meteorite on the surface of the red planet. In September 2014, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission reached the red planet, making it the fourth nation to successfully enter orbit around

When Curiosity was launched it went through of tough time to enter the atmosphere, and even hard time landing. NASA watched the landing through television and when they found out that it landed okay and it was safe from danger, the mission could begin. August 2012 was a time where all these theories were put to a test, to see if any of it was true or is true. “Mars Curiosity: Facts and Information”, by Elizabeth Howell. In this article she gives readers perspective and an open mind that there could actually be life on Mars and a whole new era shall begin very soon. While on the mission Curiosity has “special tools” as mentioned in the article. It can detect

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

In an effort to locate other means of life in our solar system NASA designed a series of spacecrafts, called the Mariner, that was launched into flight towards Mercury,Venus and Mars. Ten of these spacecrafts were invented and constructed but only seven of them were successful. Though few failed the ones that succeeded sent back new images of the surface of these two planets. Mariner two was launched successfully on August 27, 1962, sending it on a 3-1/2-month flight to Venus. On the way it measured

The first human being walked on the moon in 1969. This momentous achievement refueled humankind’s drive to explore. The next achievable planetary body, in this sense, is Mars. Due to its similarity in composition to Earth - far more so than the gaseous planets - and its comparatively short distance, Mars is the logical next step in human space exploration. Mankind should look to colonizing Mars to further its body of knowledge; promote the growth and development of science and technology here on Earth, using this development to vastly improve the lives of all; and preserve its spot in the universe. Our capability to do this is advanced, yet insufficient, and colonies in Mars are not safely possible anytime soon. The technologies for the