Earthshaking News from Mars

November 21, 2012 by

NASA’s Mars Rover, Curiosity, has been collecting soil samples on Mars. NASA is preparing an announcement about the results of the sample analysis that will rock both humanity and the science world on Earth. What is it, exactly? For the time being, no one is saying.

Mars Science Laboratory scientists, investigators, and project participants are not disclosing certain results yet. Not until routine established processes and procedures to vet the analysis are completed, will the release of the information then be authorized.

The Curiosity rover collects samples, then provides this input to SAM, an instrument on Curiosity. SAM is a miniature remote chemistry lab. Input Martian soil, rocks, or even the Mars atmosphere (air) to SAM, and it will tell you what the sample is made of. “We’re getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting,” quoting John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for the rover mission at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The science team at JPL receives SAM’s results and does further analysis. “This data is gonna be one for the history books. It’s looking really good,” he says. Not so fast say the scientists. Gas from Florida might have been stowed with Curiosity on the trip from Earth, and would corrupt the results.

During the interim wait, let’s speculate the results: the presence of methane gas indicates there was (or is?) life on Mars. What does life on Mars mean to us on Earth? Will we come to understand that there are pockets of life throughout the universe and how will it effect our cosmic perspective?

We can only benefit from better science. Perhaps understanding Mars will help lay to rest doubts about science on Earth, whether that be questions about evolution, environment, or climate change. The good news from Mars will even lift the stock market, astronomically, for at least a day or two before it comes back down to Earth.

NASA rover Curiosity lands on Mars successfully

August 6, 2012 by John M. Guilfoil

Telecom engineer Peter Llott, center, hugs a colleague to celebrate the successful landing of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Sunday, August 5, 2012. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration. (AP Photo/Brian van der Brug, Pool) — Telecom engineer Peter Llott, center, hugs a colleague to celebrate the successful landing of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover inside the Spaceflight Operations Facility at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Sunday, August 5, 2012. The Curiosity robot is equipped with a nuclear-powered lab capable of vaporizing rocks and ingesting soil, measuring habitability, and potentially paving the way for human exploration. (AP Photo/Brian van der Brug, Pool)

It stuck the landing.

Curiosity, the most advanced science experiment ever sent to the red planet has successfully touched down on Mars, steering itself through the so-called “seven minutes of terror” to gently hit the ground.

“Touchdown confirmed,” said engineer Allen Chen. “We’re safe on Mars.”

The landing set off an uproar of applause through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Sunday night as Curiosity reported back after touchdown. at 10:30 p.m. PDT. The rover sent the first black-and-white photos of its initial contact with Mars quickly after landing.

President Barack Obama, in a tweet, congratulated the NASA team: “congratulate and thank all the men and women of NASA who made this remarkable accomplishment a reality.”

Curiosity is a $2.5 billion gamble, which NASA needs to pay off. The hope with this mission is that the rover and its extremely advanced set of tools will return the best data ever gathered on our planetary neighbor.

The rover will hopefully spent at least the next two years sending back data. It will drive to a mountain, drill into rocks, and gather soil to see if Mars ever had what it takes for life to thrive. Such a discovery would rank up there with the biggest scientific discoveries in human history.

This was the first time NASA attempted a controlled “smooth” landing on Mars. The last two rovers bounced to the surface with airbags all around them. That was not possible with the ton-heavy Curiosity.

The rover is nuclear-powered and includes a chemistry lab, cameras, instruments, weather gauges, a robotic arm, and a drill.

Curiosity joins the rover Opportunity, a long ways away but the next nearest operational Earth object. Opportunity is amazing in its own right, as it is still operational after eight years on the frigid, unforgiving planet.

NASA releases amazing new Mars panorama

July 7, 2012 by John M. Guilfoil

It’s almost like being there.

NASA has released a stunning panorama showing everything from the latest rover tracks to billion-year-old impact craters. The Pancam camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity gives one of the most amazing views yet of the fourth planet.

The release of the full-circle panoramic photo coincides with two major milestones — Opportunity just completed its 3,000th Martian day on July 2; and NASA is celebrating 15 years of robots on Mars. The first rover, Mars Pathfinder, landed in 1997. Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, landed in January 2004. The next-generation Mars rover, Curiosity, is expected to land next month.

The panorama is presented in false color to emphasize the difference between materials in the scene, NASA said. It was assembled from 817 total images taken between Dec. 21, 2011 and May 8, 2012.

“The view provides rich geologic context for the detailed chemical and mineral work that the team did at Greeley Haven over the rover’s fifth Martian winter, as well as a spectacularly detailed view of the largest impact crater that we’ve driven to yet with either rover over the course of the mission,” said Jim Bell of Arizona State University, Tempe, Pancam’s lead scientist.