The Mars Exploration Rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, an enduring attempt of robotic investigation of the red planet. The scientific goals of NASA are to search and differentiate a broad variety of rocks and soils that embrace clues to whether there was water on Mars. Over the years this has been an ongoing investigation. People want to know whether there was really water and life on this large red planet called Mars. Scientist are determined to figure this out.
At this point in time scientist still cannot go to Mars themselves so they have to rely on the rovers to look for signs of past water activity on Mars. The rovers carry many scientific instruments to help them investigate further into …show more content…
the soil they are roaming around in . For example: A Panoramic Camera, Miniature Thermal Emission, Spectrometer, Mossbauer Spectrometer, Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer, magnets, Microscopic Imager, and a Rock Abrasion Tool. All these tools are very important to the investigation. The rovers are the only way of finding out more about Mars so they are well equipped. They are powered through solar panels and are able to communicate back to Earth its findings.
Curiosity was the new Rover sent to Mars, it landed August 5, 2012.
Curiosity is the first spacecraft ever to record a landing on another planet. The rover has begun a two-year mission. The job of the rover will be to inspect whether the Martian environment was hospitable for microbial life. It’s also a preparation for future human exploration< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover>.
Gale Crater was the original landing of the rover. The crater had formed about 3.5 billion years ago when a meteor hit Mars. The reason why scientist chose Gale Crater as the landing site was because it has many signs that water once existed in Mars. The reason why it is important to find out if there was water on Mars is because that is the key ingredient of life. Curiosity will have lots of clues studying this crater.
Scientist have a plan for Curiosity while it is up there. First it will visit a site called Glenelg. The reason scientist chose this site is because it has three different types of terrain. Glenelg is located at approximately 1,600 feet from where Curiosity had first landed. Scientist will send Curiosity over there so they are able to determine what minerals the soil holds. They also want to know what the chemical composition is
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Scientist are proud to have been able to put Curiosity on Mars. They are glad that it was the first rover to ever record a landing on the planet Mars. They have many more plans for Curiosity and will continue their findings. Even thought it will probably take a month for the rover to reach Glenelg they will keep waiting with anticipation. Scientist have hope that Curiosity will discover a lot.