One of the most explored celestial bodies has been Mars, not only because of its proximity to Earth but because it has shown to have several indications that there was or is life somewhere on the planet. That is why NASA has built several bots called ‘rovers’ to explore its surface in search of new data. And on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the first launch of the Curiosity rover, we compile some of the most important discoveries of this artifact.
Starting with Curiosity’s main goal, which was to find out if Mars was habitable. For this she equipped herself with various tools to drill the surface of the planet and spectrometers to analyze the samples, which resulted in the planet “was habitable, and that those environments persisted for tens of millions of years”commented the scientist who worked on the Curiosity project, Abigail Fraeman, in an interview with the Space portal.
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The rover’s investigation of the Martian soil also yielded new information about the cycles of groundwater on Mars. “All the rocks we’ve driven through show not only the signature of the water when they were originally deposited, but this later overprint of one or two or dozens of cycles of groundwater circulating through the rocks.”Fraeman said.
In relation to rock formations, the scientist highlighted that the rover has identified that part of the soil on Mars is useful for blocking certain types of radiationsomething that could be useful for future human explorations. “Now we can use that for models for future astronauts. For example, can you use natural terrain as armor?”said.
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She’s also captivated by Curiosity’s study of the Martian climate, noting that last year, she photographed beautiful clouds known as noctilucent clouds, which appear at sunset during winter.
Finally, Fraeman announced that there are still many more details to explore regarding the planet, all in the hands of Curiosity and other explorer bots such as Sojourner, Perseverance, Opportunity and Spirit.