Mars Essay

Mars. It’s where the most technologically advanced rover ever built is right now. The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a specifically designed mission which allows scientist to study back on Earth to study Mars for any condition where past or present life may be found on the desolate planet. To conduct this mission on the planet itself, they use Curiosity, a high tech rover. In this paper, you will learn about the specifications of the rover, pre-launch preparations, the flight to Mars, the landing, and the types of experiments Curiosity is conducting on Mars. This is the Mars Science Laboratory.

Before you launch any type of spacecraft, there must be thousands of hours of preparation done to make sure everything works in perfect sequence, works properly, and fits together. This 2.5 billion dollar project is carrying the most expensive Mars rover built. It’s name is Curiosity. Curiosity is 9 feet 10 inches long, 9 feet 1 inch wide, has wheels with a 20 inch diameter, and weighs a staggering 2,000 pounds. The “main attraction” for this mission though was Curiosity. Curiosity was built here in La Canada Flintridge at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The rover was built in a special room called a “Clean Room”. This is a white walled, ceiling, and floored room which allows scientist to see any dirt or other earth-like substances that could attach themselves to the rover. The reason why the rover should be completely clean is mostly because they do not want to contaminate a new planet with bacteria or viruses that live on earth and get in to a water supply on Mars if ever found. At JPL, the rover, entry capsule, sky crane, and heat shield were all built. Once finished, these components traveled on an Army C-130 to Cape Canaveral, Flori...

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...s pretty slow. It only travels a couple miles each year. Curiosity has already found ancient streams and minerals and chemicals that could support life. These are just some of the major breakthroughs Curiosity has had.

Because of all the hard work that JPL scientist have put into the Mars Science Laboratory, we have been able to get a better understanding of what Mars is like and what type of life if any is able to survive on Mars. Curiosity also shows how our space program is advancing in such ways that we may be able to put a human being on mars within the next century. This is what makes the mars Science Laboratory so amazing from the technological and scientific standpoint. You could say this mission was somewhat out of a science fiction book. But it’s not. It’s very real and working as we sit here today. Who knows what’s to come in the future of exploring Mars.