Brielle Ballantine
Editor-in-Chief

In the early morning of Aug. 6, the United States made world history by successfully landing the most sophisticated rover to ever land on foreign planet- the “Curiosity.” Curiosity is strapped with a number of sophisticated cameras, a robotic arm, a “rocker bogie” suspension, 2 gigs of flash memory, a plutonium-fueled power system and a rock-vaporizing laser. Although this scientific breakthrough can introduce us to information and new knowledge about Mars and our own planet Earth, is it really worth it?

The option to explore and look for new life is literally right in front of us. Exploring Mars can bring humanity together as a whole as we look for something bigger than us all. In an article published by CNN.com, Curiosity team member, Jim Bell said. “It is human nature to explore” Bell said. “By going to difficult or dangerous places, we carry the rest of our species along with us. These stories become part of our culture, part of our heritage, part of our shared need to explore the worlds around us. It’s a human endeavor that is part science, part inspiration.”

Despite Mars desert appearance, it used to be a world filled with warmth and water, making it one of the best places to look for life. Traces of water still remain underground, and dried up rivers; seas and oceans are still visible on Mars surface. Even though there is no proof of life on Mars now, that doesn’t mean that billions of years ago Mars was a wet planet able to sustain life.

“If Mars followed the same geologic beginnings that Earth had, then life may have started at roughly the same time- perhaps a couple billion years ago.” Earth and Space science teacher, Eric Horchheimer said. “My bet is finding evidence of life that lived on Mars in the last 500 to 700 million years ago. You just have to know where to look, or how to find it- which I’m sure NASA has covered.”

Curiosity is offering scientists a new look into our neighboring planets and it could give us new information about our own planets history. Some of the findings might help us learn about Earth’s climate and geology to a further extent.

One of Curiosity’s main goals is to help us understand the evolution of Mars. With the help of its rock-vaporizing laser, Curiosity is able to gather old and young volcanic rock, and samples of its atmosphere hoping to obtain information that can help scientist understand Mars geological history and how its atmosphere diminished over time.

With global warming becoming a huge issue, this insight that we gather from Mars can give us ideas on how our planet may end up if our atmosphere is ruined as well. If discoveries are made on what exactly made Mars atmosphere decrease over time, it might be able to give us ideas on how to save our own.

In addition to new knowledge, Curiosity has also opened up new job opportunities to Americans all across the country. According to NASAs spoke person, Guy Webster, more than 7,000 people have been working on the rover in 31 different states in the last eight years. Currently, there are more than 400 NASA employees working on the project, not including the 300 scientist being out sourced by the government. The Curiosity project has created jobs not just within NASA but it includes companies ranging from Lockheed Martin to a bicycle manufacturer in Chattanooga, Tenn.

It’s been a little over a month that Curiosity has been rooming around Mars, and so far everything has been going great. NASA researchers have been constantly checking up on Curiosity’s 10 sophisticated instruments; and so far everything has been up to par.
According to an article from CSMonitor.com, Jennifer Trosper, Curiosity mission manager of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. said. “The success so far of these activities has been outstanding,” Trosper said. “Throughout every phase of the checkouts, Curiosity has performed almost flawlessly.”

Only time will tell how far Curiosity will take is into the scientific future, but it intentions are defiantly worth the money, hard work and time that we all put into this mission not only as a country; but as a whole species.

For more information please visit www.NASA.gov and csmonitor.com
Photo via www.csmonitor.com