The Curiosity rover was launched seven weeks ago in mars, to see if mars was ever compatible for life. It has already shown evidence of running water on Mars in the past. Scientists on the mission team say the size and rounded shape of the
pebbles in the rock indicate they had been transported and eroded in
water.(picture above) I find this interesting because we are exploring a planet we really do not know that much about, with a robot over thousands and thousands of miles away. I am sure they are going to find lots and lots of cool stuff there. They are planning on going to a massive crater, that will show all the different levels of soil and rock, from the past millions of years. They are going to then test that with all of there toys on the rover to find out if life ever had life. This whole project is being funded for two years. But the rover is powered by a nuclear battery that can last for five years. So this experiment will last a while.
(A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for
interesting rock features to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
(B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular
targets, and a laser will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
(C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over
instruments on its arm for close-up investigation. These include a
microscope
(D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be
delivered to two hi-tech analysis labs inside the rover body
(E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover
deck. Return commands tell the rover where it should drive next
No comments:
Post a Comment