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Mars Rover Curiosity Managing and NASA Monitoring Agency: Mission Objectives Main: To determine if Mars is, or was, suitable for life. While it is not designed to find life itself, the rover carries a number of instruments on board that can bring back information about the surrounding environment. To have a continuous record of weather and radiation observations to determine how suitable the site would be for an eventual human mission. 7foot !" meters# arm$ about the si%e of a small S&'$ (t is ) feet *+ inches Statistics long b ) feet * inch wide !- m b ". m# and about 7 feet high !".* m#. (t weighs ",+++ lbs. !)++ kilograms#. /uriosit0s wheels have a "+inch !1+. cm# diameter. Power Source Multimission radioisoto2e thermoelectric generator, which 2roduces electricit from the heat of 2lutonium"-0s radioactive deca. Nov. "3, "+** "+** from /a2e /anaveral, 4lorida Date Launched Date of Arriva arrived on Mars on Aug. 3, "+*" Sa&%e Anaysis at Mars analyzes samples of material collected and delivered !oos"#$ui%&ent by the rover’s arm, plus arm, plus atmospheric atmospheric samples. samples . (t includes a gas a gas chromatograph, chromatograph, a mass spectrometer and a tunable laser spectrometer spectrometer with combined capabilities to identify a wide range of carbon-containing compounds and determine the ratios of different isotopes of key elements . CheMin An X-ray diffraction diffraction and fluorescence fluorescence instrument instrument that examines samples gathered gathered by the robotic robotic arm. t is designed designed to identify and !uantify !uantify the minerals in rocks and soils, and to measure bulk composition. Mars 'and Lens (&ager Mounted on the arm, it takes extreme close-up pictures pictures of rocks and and soil, revealing revealing details smaller smaller than the width of a human hair. t can also focus on hard-to-reach ob"ects more than an arm’s length away and has taken images assembled into dramatic self- portraits of #uriosity. A%ha Partice )*ray S%ectro&eter also on the arm, determines the relative abundances of different elements in rocks and soils Mast Ca&era, mounted at about humanee height, images the rover’s surroundings surroundings in high-resolut high-resolution ion stereo and and color, color, with the capability capability to take and and store high-definition high-definition video video se!uences. t can also be used for viewing materials materials collected or treated by the arm Che&Ca& uses laser pulses to vaporize thin layers of material from $artian rocks or soil targets up to % meters &'( feet) away. t includes both a spectrometer spectrometer to identify the types of atoms excited by the beam, and a telescope telescope to capture detailed images of the area illuminated by the beam. The laser and tele sco2e sit on the rover5s mast. Radiation Assess&ent Detector characterizes the radiation environment at the surface of $ars. $ars. *his information is is necessary for planning planning human exploration exploration of $ars and is relevant to assessing the planet’s ability to harbor life Mars Descent (&ager captured color, high-definition video of the landing region to provide geological context for the investigations on the ground and to aid precise determination of the landing site . Rover #nviron&enta Monitoring Station to measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, winds, plus ultraviolet radiation levels. Dyna&ic Abedo of +eutrons instru&ent to measure subsurface hydrogen up to + meter &( feet) below the surface .
Discoveries
/uriosit found evidence of a streambed. streambed.
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6owder from the first drill sam2les that /uriosit obtained included the elements of sulfur, nitrogen, hdrogen, ogen, 2hos2horus and carbon, which are all considered 8building blocks8 or fundamental elements that could su22ort life. Scientists also detected a huge s2ike in methane levels on Mars in late "+*- and earl "+*9, at a level of about 7 2arts 2er billion !com2ared to the usual +.- 22b to +. 22b#. This was a notable finding because in some circumstances, methane is an indicator of microbial life. ut it can also 2oint to geological 2rocesses. (n ;ecember "+*-, NASA determined the radiation levels measured b /uriosit were manageable for a crewed Mars mission in the future. A mission with *+ das fling to Mars, 1++ das on the surface and *+ das heading back to
rganics are considered life0s building blocks, but do not necessaril 2oint to the eistence of life as the can also be created through chemical reactions /hemicals found in Martian rocks b NASA0s /uriosit Mars rover suggest the =ed 6lanet once had more ogen in its atmos2here than it does now. +ew 'ori,on: Puto -yby
NASA Managing and Monitoring Agency Mission Objective 4irst 2robe to stud 6luto, its moons and other worlds within the ?ui2er elt u2 close. Date Launched @anuar *), "++3 on an Atlas ' rocket from /a2e /anaveral Air 4orce Station in 4lorida. Cosest a%%roach @ul *9, "+*1 reached a distance of ,1+7 miles !*-,3)* kilometers# from to Puto . 6luto0s surface its closest a22roach, gathering a treasure trove of data that will take almost another ear to return to
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(nstru&ent
Discoveries
would not have reached 6luto until the ear "+-3. 6luto0s distance E about - billion miles !1 billion kilometers# from
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mountainous range E 2o22ed u2 in 2ictures sent back in mid@ul. The zone has been informally named S2utnik 6lanum and is a region of intense scrutin, given that geologists are still tring to figure out what caused this. Gater in @ul, team members 2resented evidence of a ha%e above 6luto0s surface E another sur2rise. At the time, the models the had suggested the ha%e is created when sunlight breaks u2 methane in 6luto0s atmos2here. The underground ocean that 2roduced some of the stunning features on 6luto0s surface ma still be s2lashing around beneath the crust toda. (f 6luto0s subsurface ocean had fro%en over com2letel, it would have formed highl 2ressuri%ed ice that would have caused the dwarf 2lanet to shrink, according to new research. The can ons and valles on 6luto seem to have formed as the dwarf 2lanet swelled u2, rather than as it shrank, indicating that a liDuid ocean most likel sits beneath the thick ice crust toda, researchers said in the stud. (t didn0t take long for scientists to conclude that 6luto once housed an ocean, but the Duestion of whether it had alread fro%en over remained. &sing u2dated measurements of 6luto0s diameter and densit, Bammond0s model revealed that a fro%en ocean beneath the crust would have changed from conventional water ice to a more com2act, crstalli%ed structure known as 8ice ((.8 As the ice changed, the fro%en ocean would have shrunk, creating an entirel different t2e of feature known as co m2ressional fractures, which are not seen on 6luto0s surface. 8We don0t see the things on the surface we0d e2ect if there had been a global contraction,8 Bammond said. 8So we conclude that ice (( has not formed, and therefore that the ocean hasn0t com2letel fro%en.8 (ce (( would have formed onl if the dwarf 2lanet0s outer shell were at least *3+ miles !"3+ kilometers# thick, 2utting sufficient 2ressure on the underling ice, the statement said. &nder the thinner shell, the ocean could have remained regular ice, not shrinking at all. Bammond0s model suggests that the shell might be closer to * )+ miles !-++ km# thick, thanks to high tem2eratures in the core, according to the 2a2er. The addition of nitrogen and methane ice s2otted on the surface of the tin world ma also hel2 kee2 the water warm. 8Those eotic ices are actuall good insulators,8 Bammond said. That means oceans could lie not onl inside tin 6luto but also in other similar worlds in the far reaches of the ?ui2er elt, the s2here of ice and rock at the edge of the solar sstem. Team members also discovered evidence for a waterice rich crust and multi2le ha%e laers in 6luto0s atmos2here, and found that 6luto is both larger and more ice rich than e2ected 2rior to the flb Rosetta Mission Mission +a&e
named after the =osetta Stone, The =osetta S2ace Mission seeks to see if comet / can 2rovide a ke to deci2hering the origins of the solar sstem andHor life on
oas •
/atch comet 376H/hurumoverasimenko in "+*9 and accom2an it
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into the interior solar sstem. •
>bserve the comet0s nucleus and coma from close range.
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Measure the increase in cometar activit during 2erihelion !2osition closest to the Sun#.
;e2lo hilae to make first controlled landing on a comet. =osetta will be the first s2acecraft to softland a robot on a cometI =osetta will also be the first s2acecraft to accom2an a comet as it enters our inner solar sstem, observing at close range how the comet changes as the Sun5s heat transforms it into the luminous a22arition that has frightened and ins2ired 2eo2le for centuries.
Managing and Monitoring Agency Launch &ass:
Di&ensions : Orbiter (nstru&ents
the
>rbiter: ")++ kg !including *37+ kg 2ro2ellant and *31 kg science 2aload#$ Gander !6hilae#: *++ kg ". ".* ".+ m with two *9 metre long solar 2anels Orbiter /00 science instru&ent %ac1ages2: AG(/< <raviolet (maging S2ectrometer />NS<=T /omet Nucleus Sounding />S(MA /ometar Secondar (on Mass Analser (A;A rain (m2act Analser and ;ust Accumulator M(;AS Micro(maging Analsis Sstem M(=> Microwave (nstrument for the =osetta >rbiter >S(=(S =osetta >rbiter (maging Sstem =>S(NA =osetta >rbiter S2ectrometer for (on and Neutral Analsis =6/ =osetta 6lasma /onsortium =S( =adio Science (nvestigation '(=T(S 'isible and (nfrared Ma22ing S2ectrometer Phiae ander /03 science instru&ent %ac1ages2: A6JS Al2ha 6roton Jra S2ectrometer K('A H =>G(S =osetta Gander (maging Sstem />NS<=T /omet Nucleus Sounding />SA/ /ometar Sam2ling and /om2osition e2eriment M>;&G&S 6T>GMA6 =oGand Magnetometer and 6lasma Monitor S;" Sam2le and ;istribution ;evice S
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Date aunched 4ourney &iestones:
March ", "++9 Launch vehice: Ariane1 rocket lifted off from ?ourou in 4rench uiana. *st
Discoveries
The new comet findings, detailed in a s2ecial issue of the Cournal Science this week!@an "", "+*1#, are even calling into Duestion an old aiom of comet research. Man scientists have dubbed comets 8dirt snowballs,8 but now it might be more a22ro2riate to call this comet a 8snow dustball8 because of its dusttogas ration, said Alessandra =otundi, the 2rinci2al investigator of =osetta0s (A;A dust grain anal%er instrument. Some comets might be 8dirt snowballs,8 while others are 8snow dustballs.8 =esearchers working with =osetta have found that the comet harbors organic com2ounds, carbonbased molecules that are sometimes known a s the chemical building blocks of life. This marks the first time organic molecules have been detected on the surface of a comet0s nucleus, according to 4abri%io /a2accioni, the 2rinci2al investigator of the '(=T(S instrument on =osetta. The northern hemis2here of the comet0s nucleus is also filled with dunes and ri22les that look somewhat like geological markings on S(=(S imaging instrument on =osetta. (f a 2erson were to stand on the surface of the comet, he or she could Cum2 ver high into s2ace because of /omet 376H/0s low gravit. The com2osition of the comet is also ver diverse, according to Bolger Sierks, the 2rinci2al investigator of >S(=(S. /omet 376H/ is ver dark E darker than charcoal E without much waterice on its surface 2otentiall because it has taken multi2le tri2s around the sun, burning off much of its ice the northern hemis2here of the comet is relativel warm, while the southern hemis2here is somewhat colder, indicating seasonal changes on /omet 376H/.
