Playing is Learning
The Mars Curiosity Rover
October 17th, 2016
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Welcome to the World of PROFESsee™by seeCOSM™ PROFESsee™ is my title. I am the perpetual learner, in pursuit of knowledge, wisdom and truth. I derived my name from professor |
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Curiosity killed the cat; thankfully, NASA isn’t sending a cat to Mars – the Red Planet – but the Mars Curiosity Rover. Its mission is simple – point us to evidence of life or the lack of it and shed more light on the Red Planet’s environment– at least writing about it is. The sheer engineering and scientific instruments and resources aboard the Curiosity Rover make it beat its predecessors – Spirit and Opportunity – in terms of sophistication and means of exploration. As a matter of fact, it is the biggest self-directed vehicle ever landed in space. So let’s examine the tools that make searching for life on Mars possible for the Curiosity Rover. The Rover is capable of pestering the surface of Mars with neutrons that cut in speed when they hit hydrogen molecules – a key part of making water (remember H2O). The design of its arm can pick up samples for analysis within the rover. It does this by heating the samples to sniff out gases for clues about the rock formation of the taken samples. It also has the Sample Analysis of Mars Instrument that double checks organic matter's presence. With this, the rover has found methane on Mars. Additionally, the rover can take high-resolution pictures (as well as drill into the surface of Mars. From the takeoff of the mission in 2011 to its present traversing of Mount Sharp – the journey hasn’t always been smooth. In fact, NASA tagged its touchdown as “Seven Minutes of Terror”, and presently, there are concerns about how durable its wheels are, to complete the full ascent of Mount Sharp. This is because punctures and holes have been observed on the Aluminium wheels and the rough terrain of Mount Sharp. NASA scientists, however, remain confident of the rover fulfilling the last part of its mission. There have been other incidences of note, such as the computer glitch of February 2013 that put the rover in safe mode for a few days. Almost at the end of its mission now, the scientists at NASA and indeed space enthusiasts wait to see if there will be any major surprises for humans on the Red Planet. Maybe we might find another Kal-El (Superman’s Kryptonian name). Can you Assemble Curiosity? Image courtesy of: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mars-science-laboratory-curiosity-rover-msl/ |
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