Exploring Mars

The Curiosity Rover has been on Mars for about two years, collecting information so that scientists here on Earth can figure out whether or not Mars ever could or ever did support microbial life. The rover has a mass of about 900 kg and is about as big as a car. Ever wonder how something that big and that heavy landed on the surface of Mars?  A group of very smart and talented engineers and scientists developed the technology to make this possible. Watch this video to learn more about the landing sequence.

            What makes Curiosity special is that it can not only take pictures of the surface and acquire information about things like the weather on Mars; Curiosity is able to drill and scoop up the contents of rocks and soil, deliver a small sample to instruments inside the rover, find out what elements the sample is made of, and send all of that information back to the scientists on earth.

           

 A few more fun facts about Curiosity:

1.     It has 17 cameras on board. Some were used to help the rover land on the surface, some are used to take pictures so that the rover and people down here can know where it’s located, and some are used to take selfies! 

This selfie was taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI).

2.     Engineers can drive the rover themselves by telling it exactly where to go and how to get there OR they can tell the rover where they want it to go and the rover figures out its own safe path to its destination.

3.     The holes in the wheels are particularly interesting. They let the dirt out if it gets trapped inside the wheel, BUT they also spell out the letters J-P-L in Morse Code! JPL stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the NASA center that developed Curiosity. So now everywhere the rover goes, it leaves these markings that spell JPL all over Mars!

4.     One of the ways Curiosity can analyze rocks and soil by “zapping” them with a laser! The instrument that does this, ChemCam, is located where you see the big circle on Curiosity’s “head.”

From landing Curiosity to how it’s being operated until today, exploration of this world outside of our own is made possible by engineers and not just aerospace engineers. A project as big as this needs mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and computer scientists as well. To date, Curiosity has been making some amazing discoveries. To find out more and stay up to date on the mission, visit the mission's page at http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/  or check out Curiosity’s Twitter account!