CURIOSITY ROVER

CURIOSITY ROVER

Subject: Science & tech

Context: Using observations made by ChemCam instrument on Curiosity rover at the base of Mount Sharp on Mars, a French–US team of scientists has deduced that water did not disappear from Mars at one go, but that it alternated between dry and wet conditions before drying up completely 3 billion years ago.

Concept:

• Curiosity is an SUV-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission.
• The Curiosity is the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars. It landed on Mars in August, 2012.
• The purpose of the mission is to find chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars.
• Curiosity’s large size allows it to carry an advanced kit of 10 science instruments.
• It has tools including 17 cameras, a laser to vaporize and study small pinpoint spots of rocks at a distance, and a drill to collect powdered rock samples. It hunts for special rocks that formed in water and/or have signs of organics.

Gale Crater

• Gale Crater formed when a meteor hit Mars in its early history, about 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago.
• The meteor impact punched a hole in the terrain. The explosion ejected rocks and soil that landed around the crater.
• Scientists chose Gale Crater as the landing site for Curiosity because it has many signs that water was present over its history.