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NASA 2020 Focus is Life on Mars

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Mars2020RoverConcept
Mars 2020 Rover Concept (Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

On July 09, 2013 NASA discussed their outline for the 2020 Mars Rover. Their focus will be primarily on looking for signs of past life on the red planet as well as collecting samples to bring back to Earth for analysis.  The sample information could help with future manned missions to Mars as we would need to have a greater understanding of the resources available to us.

There are many hazards on the martian surface that must be better understood before we go sending our best to go walking around out there. Even the dust of Mars could be very dangerous to explorers, add into account the higher radiation levels and potential for wild weather and you could be in real trouble.

NASA’s 2020 mission aims to build on the tremendous success of Curiosity. The 2020 mission will not only look for signs of past life but also attempt to understand what it takes for life to take hold. NASA will also focus on how to use the resources on Mars to survive long periods of time on the planet. Creating oxygen, collecting carbon dioxide, and creating fuel are just a few examples of the engineering hurdles that the Mars 2020 mission could help us jump.

 The Mars 2020 mission concept does not presume that life ever existed on Mars, however, given the recent Curiosity findings, past Martian life seems possible, and we should begin the difficult endeavor of seeking the signs of life. No matter what we learn, we would make significant progress in understanding the circumstances of early life existing on Earth and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.” – Jack Mustard, chairman of the Science Definition Team and a professor at the Geological Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I.

Want a more in-depth look at the future plans for Mars Rover missions? The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) offers a rich experience with the latest updates and multimedia.

 

Big NASA Discovery On Mars? Not So Much

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About a week ago we received news that NASA was possibly on the brink of a major discovery, in fact it was mentioned that it could be for the “History Books”. Well, unfortunately it doesn’t seem like were going to get that kind of news from Mars anytime soon.

This discovery that apparently never happened is being described as a “big misunderstanding”. Here is the original report that I read from NPR. Planet Mars Viewed From Space

“Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something remarkable. “This data is gonna be one for the history books. It’s looking really good.”

“Grotzinger can see the pained look on my face as I wait, hoping he’ll tell me what the heck he’s found, but he’s not providing any more information.”

This was from an interview between science correspondent Joe Palca and scientist John Grotzinger. Apparently, what were being told now is that John meant to say that the mission in it’s entirety is historical and that in the next couple of years we expect to make great discoveries.

Something sound a bit strange here? This was big news that made it’s way quickly around the world and that means NASA had to have heard it too. The big question here is if NASA did hear this report earlier then why didn’t they try to correct this earlier?

They were still sampling soil at the time of the interview and were anxiously waiting for results, but apparently they weren’t “History Worthy”. Either way you look at this, it’s still a bit of let down. I guess we will just have to keep our hopes up for future discoveries on Mars.

Possibly a Big Discovery on Mars

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We have been receiving a steady stream of updates from the Mars rover, Curiosity, ever since it left the Earth’s atmosphere and began it’s mission. However, one of the more recent updates, which is being called “earthshaking”, can not be shared at this time.  So what in the world is going on? or to be more precise, what in the Martian world is going on?

Mars
Mars (Source:NASA)

One of Curiosity’s instruments, known as SAM, is able to determine what’s inside a particular sample by analyzing it and then letting us know what it’s made up of. John Grotzinger, who is part of the rover team, has mentioned that they have recently gathered a bit of soil to test with SAM and it has yielded some “Earthshaking”, results.

Unfortunately, we won’t find out exactly what these earthshaking results are until they have confirmed them beyond a shadow of a doubt. After all they don’t want to deliver big news only to have to take it back later and say they were wrong.

The funny thing about scientific discovery is that everybody interprets these sort of things differently. We could very well hear news that a never before seen gas has been found trapped in the soil sample, which would be interesting but not necessarily “earthshaking” to those of us outside the scientific community, with the exception being some of our fellow geeks of course. Either way we remain in state of suspense until we can find out more about whats going on out there. I can’t even begin to speculate myself.

There’s no doubt in my mind that these scientists are basically freaking out about not being able to tell us, and to make things worse, it may be several weeks before we can know. For now we will just have to wait and see what these earthshaking results are and hopefully we are in for a big suprise.

NASA Lands Rover on Mars

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NASA successfully lands its car sized rover “Curiosity” on the surface of Mars after a 36 week flight through space at 10:32 p.m Aug 5th PDT.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) successfully carried the rover to the Red Planet and set it on the surface using bridle cords to make this the most complex landing ever attempted on Mars.

The rover landed near the foot of a mountain approximately three miles high and 96 miles in diameter inside Gale Crater.NASA

An extremely intense moment overcame the team at JPL in Pasadena, California when they entered what they called “The Seven Minutes of Terror” in which the the whole mission was on autopilot as curiosity entered the martian atmosphere.

Curiosity has already returned many images from the surface of Mars as the rover is successfully communicating with the team at JPL. Curiosity carries 10 science instruments that have a combined mass 15 times larger than the previous rover payloads of Spirit and Opportunity. Some of these tools are the first of their kind to be used on Mars including a laser firing instrument that checks the elemental composition of rocks.

This mission personally brought back a lot of good feelings about the space program which has felt pretty slow lately. I hope we continue to push towards more exploration and advance our knowledge of the cosmos. There is an unknown amount potential in the universe that has yet to be tapped and I don’t think many people realize how important it is to keep testing our abilities and expanding our knowledge of the universe around us.