The Mars Exploration Rover Mission (Spirit and Opportunity rovers)

It is an understatement to say that the Mars Exploration Rover mission is successful, as the findings that were uncovered during this mission was iconic as it helped identify many unknown questions of the planet, Mars. This mission that was carried out by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, otherwise known as NASA, which had employed two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, to travel miles around the terrain of Mars to collect the data and findings, which would then transfer it back to Earth. This paper will discuss many challenges that the Mars Exploration Rover mission had encountered, whilst also highlighting through the findings and data, the many breakthroughs and achievements that had been made during the lifecycle of the project. Therefore, through analysing and evaluating the advancements and shortcomings of this mission, we can continually make improvements on the methods of space exploration and have a greater understanding of the past

In conclusion, our process to discover mars has just begun, scientists might have to invent some new options to bring our abilities up to space level. Exploring Mars is definitely one of the biggest challenges scientists will ever face, simply because there are so many obstacles we are facing, and preparing for the trip has taken a lot more time than was expected by NASA in 1969. I personally think that we at least need about 2 or more decades so scientists will be able to find better options and invent more useful and helpful ideas. President John F. Kennedy said: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. Our mission to the moon is not as easy as it was thought would be, scientists need a lot more time and management to this particular problem. Going to a completely different plant and exploring it requires a lot of time, a new way of thinking, and a lot of corporation and

There were five massive discoveries that the rover Curiosity made. In August 200 the rover landed on Mars and been exploring the red planet since, but the robot has racked up quite a string of accomplishments while been on the red planet. For examples, when the rover first touched down on the red planet, it had a dramatic “seven minutes terror” when it touched down. This showed a successfully demonstrated a new technique that would help land the large payload of deliveries with unprecedented precision and successfully helping to pave a way for human outposts on the Red Planet. The rover was launched in order to determine whether the Gale Crater landing site has ever been able to support microbial life, the car sized rover successfully answered that question within seven months into the 2

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)

The rover Curiosity, finally landed on mars August 6, 2012, it was launched November 26, 2011. Before NASA could be launched Curiosity, the rover it had to go through series of test, drop tests, pull test, drive test, load test, stress tests, and shorting tests. So scientists had to realize that Earth and Mars revolve around the sun at different rates meaning it takes Mars 686 earths days and the Earth 365 days. They did to figure out when Mars was closest to Earth. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral. Stage one, it reaches space and the tip of the cone opens and fall off. During the second stage, a centuar engine starts placing the vehicle into obit. When everything is alined the second engine starts to bring it to mars. Once Curiosity is on Mars it will do tasks such as collecting rock, soil sampling and placing them on instruments in order to be analyzed. What goes into the rover (Siceloff, Steven. "Mars Rover Well-Equipped for Studies." NASA's John F. Kennedy

The discovery of water on Mars and traces of it on the moon has caused many scientists and people to become thrilled. The evidence of water in other planets is hope for the possibility of life too. NASA is planning to send a rover over to Mars in 2020, to find any evidence of life (NASA In ESA's ExoMars Rover). The ExoMars Rover will be able to identify chemicals present in the atmosphere and in rocks and provide evidence for questions such as the existence of life on the Red planet (NASA In ESA's ExoMars Rover). Mars is one of the millions of planets that scientific community is hoping to finds signs of life on. The news of life on a different planet would momentous for people worldwide. It would be a discovery that would clear up several

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.

Over the years NASA has launched multiple space crafts to Mars to gain information on the Red Planet. Out of these voyages, only 1 out of 3 have been successful and have gotten to Mars safely. One of the most famous explorations of Mars was back in 2004

[9] NASA [Internet]. [NASA] National Aeronautics and Space Administration [cited 2015 January 23]. Available from http://mars.nasa.gov/mer/technology/bb_power.html

…4…3…2…1… Blast off! The first manned mission to Mars had taken off from the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The second space race was over and America's only real competitor was Russia which America had beaten. There were countless cheers as the ship launched into space. The point of the mission? To find out for certain if there was intelligent life on Mars. Also the population on Earth was getting too big for such little space and the astronauts-soon to be Martians-would see if it was possible for humans to live on Mars with the proper equipment.

Sojourner is the name of a pathfinder rover that took on the rocky terrain of Mars for just under three months. NASA launched the rover on December 4, 1996, and landed it seven months later on Mars on July 4, 1997, and had its last contact with Earth at 6:23 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on September 27, 1997. Sojourner explored with front and rear cameras and other tools to conduct several scientific experiments. The rover was named after an American civil rights activist Sojourner Truth. This Mars rover used an new innovative method of entering the atmosphere of the alien planet, which involved the use of a parachute to create a slow descent and then of airbags to cushion the fall onto the planet.

My project is on the amazing robotic spacecraft of Mars Odyssey which is orbiting the planet of Mars. It was “...launched on April 7th, 2001,”(NASA) and arrived on the red planet's orbit in October 2001. This particular spacecraft comes after 2 failures for NASA as “It was intended to have a companion spacecraft known as Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander, but the lander mission was canceled in May 2000 following the failures of Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander in late 1999”(NASA-Overview). The Mars Odyssey is in orbit for 17 years and counting. By December 15, 2010, it broke the record for longest-serving spacecraft at Mars, with 3,340 days of operation(NASA-Overview).

Otherwise, it would need bigger rockets -- and the cost of building such a rocket would be pretty significant.”(Springer). Khoshnevis is certain of the limitations, which leads readers to the thought that colonization on Mars is doubtful. The 3D printer explains the limitations of colonization on a foreign planet in a way that creates an image of barriers for readers to easily comprehend. In another clear statement of the restrictions of colonization, Khoshnevis states, “Of course, humans will try to control (robotic) construction on Mars from Earth. And in the case of the moon, some control is possible -- we can tell the robotics what to do. But on Mars, because the distance from Earth is so far (401 million km apart, at their greatest opposing positions) you don't have real-time controls. There is a big delay. It will be like moving a joystick on a video game, but it takes 8 minutes for the cursor to move.”(Springer). Khoshnevis explains in incredible numeric detail that there are possible technical difficulties in the plan to colonize Mars, and supplies all the barriers to the idea that countless people have

Radhakrishnan announced that the launch had to be postponed by a week as a result of a delay of a crucial telemetry ship reaching Fiji Islands. The launch was rescheduled for 5 November 2013.[27] The PSLV rocket lifted off at 09:08 UTC (2:38 p.m. IST), and placed the satellite into Earth orbit at 09:50 UTC,[28] with a perigee of 264.1 km, an apogee of 23,903.6 km, and inclination of 19.20 degrees,[29] with both the antenna and all three sections of the solar panel arrays being deployed.[30]