New York, Aug 6 : The US-based space agency NASA’s Curiosity rover has reached an important milestone as it celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its landing on Mars on the 5th of August.In 2010, a jetpack brought NASA’s Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet, beginning the SUV-sized explorer’s hunt of evidence that billions of years ago, Mars had the conditions necessary to allow microscopic life to flourish.
Since the time it was launched, Curiosity has driven nearly 18 miles (29 kilometers) and has climbed over 2500 feet (625 meters) while exploring Gale Crater and the foothills of Mount Sharp within it.
The rover has examined 41 soil and rock samples, using a variety of scientific instruments to find out what they can reveal about Earth’s rock sister.And it has inspired the group of engineers to find ways to minimize wear and tear, and to keep the rover running Curiosity’s mission was extended by three more years which allows it to continue to be part of NASA’s fleet of important missions in astrobiology.
“We are witnessing evidence of significant changes in the old Martian climate” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California stated in an announcement.
Curiosity has been studying the skies of the Red Planet by taking pictures of sparkling clouds and swaying moons.
The radiation sensor on the rover lets scientists determine the amount of high-energy radiation astronauts will be exposed at the Martian surface, assisting NASA determine how to ensure their safety.
But the most important thing is that Curiosity has found that liquid water, as well as the chemical building blocks and nutrients for life support were present for at most 10s of millions of years in Gale Crater.The crater was once home to an ocean that was large, the size of which fluctuated over time.
Each layer higher the slope of Mount Sharp serves as a record of an earlier era of Mars its environment.The vehicle is traveling through an area of canyons that mark the shift to a brand new area, one believed to have formed because the water was drying out leaving behind salty minerals known as sulfates.
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