Get ready, set, Mars! By Monday, we earthlings will have another world view. Or should I say, another Mars view? Our good friends at NASA and JPL will be losing sleep this weekend as they await the landing of the most recent effort to examine the surface of the planet Mars, close up. The newest rover will be dropped, quite gingerly, by a cable system cleverly constructed by space engineers, onto the martian surface. This vehicle, like its 3 predecessors, will rove the area and begin sampling rocks from above and below the surface. The material will be heated and the ash(?) will be analyzed and the results transmitted back to us. This rover has state of the art equipment and will be especially good at searching material for carbon-the building block of life forms.
This craft could work for many years or it could fail upon landing if things don't go well. So, much excitement and frayed nerves throughout the scientific community. Standby on Monday for announcements, etc. Perhaps some "earth shaking" discovery will be made that will change our isolationist views. Maybe we have some relatives beyond our 'known' world.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment