Nasa Curiosity Mission

NASA has been around for 50 years, and they already sent over 200 missions into space. Each mission has its own discoveries and its own flaws. They all changed the way we look at our solar system, galaxy, and the universe. Some of them were successful and some were not. These missions have helped NASA a lot. Curiosity, Apollo 11, and Hubble have helped the world by discovering new things, making spinoffs, and successfully completing their mission.

With the announcement in 1996 by a team of scientists that a meteorite from Mars contained what might be the residue of ancient microbes, public interest became regalvanized by the possibility of past or present life there. The climate of Mars changes over time. “Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will determine Mars' climate change over time for the lower and upper atmosphere. The mission will allow scientists to determine more precisely the composition of the Martian atmosphere. Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission will investigate the composition of rocks, soils, and land forms that might be linked with changes in the planet's atmosphere over time. (NASA) The key to understanding whether life could have evolved on Mars, many scientists believe, is water. (NASA) Other than water, there are many elements required to support life. For example, suitable climate, temperature, atmosphere and more, are conditions necessary for life on Mars, as important as water. After Earth, Mars has the most habitable climate for living in the solar system. Geologic features of Mars are collected by the Curiosity rover and studied by scientists. For instance, to find out has liquid water ever flowed on the surface of Mars and what caused the climate change on Mars. Of course, there are more environmental conditions affect Mars that lead scientists to further explore the natural environment of

On the other hand, the goals of Mars have been the study of possibility of life on the Mars planet. To do this, ''Curiosity'' a kind of robot, which has been the first habitant of Mars, is the mediator of studies and images. Other example of difference with Apollo mission is the Mars science laboratory, which was created to obtain samples that can be used for a future mission of return, such as rocks and soils, and certain materials found there (Wilson). Unlike the Moon, the planet Mars is a cold desert. It is half of the diameter of the Earth and has the same amount of dry land. Another difference is that Mars has seasons, volcanoes, canyons and the climate, but its atmosphere is too thin for liquid water to exist for long on the surface. On the contrary of Apollo

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)

For countless decades, speculations have been made on the possibility of life on Mars. There have been questions of pictures taken from Mars and skepticism about why some of the recent landings have failed. Scientists, until now, have been doubtful about life on Mars. The reason being is because of the similarities it has to our planet; from the volcanoes, and canyons to the weather, different seasons, and even the amount of time in a day. But throughout all of these speculations, what does research have to say on the possibility of life on Mars? Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and is the second smallest planet in the solar system. Named after the Roman god of war, Mars is also often described as the “Red Planet” due to its reddish appearance. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide. It’s polar diameter is 6752 km with an orbit distance of 227,943,824 km. Even though Mars has only 15% of the Earth’s volume and just over 10% of the Earth’s mass, around two thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered in water.

For more than five years, NASA’s Curiosity rover has been roaming around the Mars. While it’s been great success, the lonesome robot is now showing the sign of aging, with its broken wheel. Even NASA’s modern technology couldn’t save them from the rigorous weather of Mars. To solve this problem, NASA has gone back to the middle age to create a superelastic tire. Based on the principals of chainmail armor, this game changing tire can repel more deformation compared to any other non-pneumatic tire. Besides, this superelastic tire could survive any kind of extra planetary abuse and ensures better tractions in next-generation rovers.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched two similar twin robotic rovers which were Spirit and Opportunity toward Mars on 10 June and 7 July 2003 (NASA 2012). Spirit and Opportunity landed in Gusev Crater on 4 January 2004 and in Meridiani Planum on 25 January 2004 respectively (NASA 2012). Opportunity is still operating and roving after 10 years on the Martian surface while final communication of Spirit to the Earth took place on 22 March 2010, which is around six years into its mission (NASA 2012). The rovers were thought to last 20 times longer as compared to its original design. As part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, the Mars Exploration Rover mission is a continuous multi-mission effort to study Mars as a possible habitation for past or present life and to look for signs of life as well as to prepare for human exploration. Primary objective of the Mars Exploration Rover mission is to explore and characterize a wide range of soils and rocks that possess clues or evidences to past water activity on Mars (NASA 2012).

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

Students will participate in an abridged version of The Curiosity Project (See Appendix A for weekly homework assignments). Over the course of five weeks students will be given a weekly homework packet for science. The packet will include two tasks and instructions for both the parents and the student participants.

These are such exciting contributions, I really can’t wait to see what it can do. Dr. Allwood went through much of what we planning on learning with this mission, including the search for past life. One of the ways we will search for past life is to look at past Mars. They will look for geological clues to find promising targets for the search. NASA wants samples to come back to Earth, for our scientists to be able to use our controlled environment and cutting edge techniques to prepare samples for experimentation. We need to look at the small and the large with this quest for life.

After landing on moon in 1969, human discovered that there was no life and no atmosphere on the moon. Then the mission changed to Mars. The question is whether life exists on Mars. To continue the mission of Mars Odyssey in 2001, a project was developed by NASA named Phoenix which is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the Mars planet. The total mission cost was about US $386 million, which includes cost of the launch. The mission had two goals. One was to search for evidence of geologic history of water and microbial life. The second goal was to evaluate past or potential planetary habitability and climate in the ice-soil boundary. The Phoenix Lander's robotic arm could dig up to half a meter (20 inches) into the Martian soil and return it to the

NASA came up with a colonization strategy which is to develop a technology to extract resources on Mars. Using the equipment, water can be extracted from minerals and soils. Also, carbon can be extracted from the atmosphere could be used as habitat heating fuel. Building habitats underground will protect living organism from the radiation and the freezing temperature. On the other hand, digging out habitats will also help expose other resources that supports the sustainability of life. Robotic technology will help the settlement of Mars and the investigation of living conditions of life on Mars. Scientists has came up with a rover that helps extract oxygen from the atmosphere. In the final analysis, “Terraforming Mars would require that the atmosphere be thickened and enriched with nitrogen and oxygen while the average temperature of the planet must be increased substantially” (Warmflash). The combination of biology and technology has become ultimate in developing life on the Red Planet. Moreover, many aspects of Mars are being looked into, “the resources we need are already there waiting for us. We just need to figure out how to use them” (Bennett). Mars consist of excellent resources for humans. The point is, scientists are still figuring out on ways to use the resources. By all means, it is indicated that Mars will soon create a new life for humans and for other living

The most fascinating planet in the world is not Earth, it is Mars. As the years have went on NASA has continued to unravel secrets and images of the red planet. As many people know, the Curiosity Rover has been monitoring Mars for quite a while now. Well, NASA decided to release a video on YouTube on what the rover captured. The coolest feature to this video is that fact that the user can view the red planet themselves. Literally, the video is played and the user has full control over what they want to see. The video that was released by the company showed some very amazing footage.

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