Fri 3 Aug '12
NASA's Curiosity is Getting Us to Mars
Unmanned mission to Mars to land this weekend.
Even before Edgar Rice Burroughs took John Carter and his readers on a trip to the red planet, humans have always been curious about our celestial neighbor. And while the new, earthbound Total Recall isn't going to "get yow ass to Mahs!", NASA isn't forgetting about the fourth planet this weekend. Their cat like curious nature has propelled investigation of the planet for years, and this weekend, NASA is sending down a new fully functioning unmanned science lab of a rover, appropriately named Curiosity. If you happen to be in the LA area this weekend, come celebrate the landing of the Curiosity rover at Planetfest in Pasadena.
Curiosity's journey started on November 26th of last year when it launched from Cape Canaveral and will end in 7 seconds of anxious terror for the engineers and scientists that built it. But as long as those 7 seconds turn out the way we hope, the Mars Science Laboratory's mission has four goals. The first two are rather obvious: to study the climate and geology of Mars. It's the second half of Curiosity's objectives that can really get your sci-fi loving hearts aflutter. The MSL is to obtain data to research whether Mars has ever supported life and to gain data to begin planning a manned mission to Mars. Bill Nye filled us in on what challenges a manned mission may face on the Nerdist podcast, but someone should go ahead and tell Val Kilmer to study up on his algebra and pack a bag.
As the private sector begins rapidly expanding the space race, NASA isn't getting distracted by asteroids or where we've been before; it has its eye on one big red prize. Human colonization may be a distant dream, but it's those dreams of colonizing the stars that keep us moving forward. So wherever you may be, whether in Pasadena for Planetfest, watching the Nerdist's Tribute to Science on BBC America or in your own back yard, celebrate the human spirit idealized as a robot on Mars. |
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