Monday, November 5, 2012

Photo from Mars


An amazing self-portrait has just been taken on Mars. Here are a few questions to get us started this marking period:
  1. What is this a picture of?
  2. What is the purpose of this vehicle's mission?
  3. What do you hope or think scientists will learn as a result?



11 comments:

  1. 1.This is a composite (or stitch) of 55 high resolution photographs taken of Nasa's curiosity rover it uses a robotic arm with a camera to take pictures from multiple angles then they are "stitched" together to form one picture.

    2.The purpose of the mission is to use the rover's instruments to measure the constituent elements of the atmosphere and their isotopes with the aim of providing insights into the history of the Red Planet and its chances of having once supported life.

    3.I hope that scientist will figure out the truth about mars and its past. I want to know if there was once water on mars. I think they will not find Life on mars but will find evidence that supports water could have existed on mars.

    Source: http://www.gizmag.com/curiosity-methane/24853/

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  2. 1) As Yeshua said, this is a combination of 55 self photos taken by Mars rover- "Curiosity".

    2) This rover's mission is to 'analyze dozens of samples drilled from rocks or scooped from the ground' to investigate whether conditions have been favorable for microbial life and for preserving clues in the rocks about a possible past life.

    3) I think that scientists will discover that there was previously life supported on Mars because I've read that the rover landed by the foot of a mountain that contains minerals that are formed in water and may also preserve organics. Also mentioned in an article was the floor of the crater that Curiosity landed in was possibly created by water-carried sediments. Based on this information, I believe that the scientists will discover that there was previously water on Mars and that Mars possibly could've supported living organisms.

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  3. 1. This is a combination of many photos taken by the newly launched mars rover Curiosity. The photos are taken by the rover using one of its arms, with a camera attached to it.

    2. This rover was sent to Mars to take rock samples and to dig into Mars's crust to determine if there was ever water on Mars. The rover was also sent to collect data on whether or not Mars ever had the capability to sustain life.

    3. I hope scientists find evidence that there was once conditions to sustain life on Mars. I believe they will find evidence that there was once water and life sustaining conditions on Mars. Scientists have already found the remains of what was thought to be a river on the surface of Mars, and I believe they will find more evidence that water existed on Mars.

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  4. 1. This is a photo of the 1 ton Curiosity rover that stretched its arm out and captured a high resolution self-portrait of itself and its landing site of the Gale Crater. The rover took 55 photos with its Mars Hand Lens Imager camera, or MAHLI, on October 31st. Mission scientists then stitched together the images and created a full color mosaic of the rover and its surroundings.

    2. The rover was sent to Mars to determine if Mars has ever been home to organic life, and to see if it may still exist in mirobial form. While the rover is not capable of detecting living organisms, its robotic arm can drill into the ground or rocks, creating a powder that can then be sifted through by a mobile chemistry lab and the findings can be relayed to scientists. Scientists hope to fine samples of organic carbon on Mars. This discovery would be a major step in the long term goal of launching a human mission to Mars, idealy as soon as the 2030's.

    3. I believe that this 2.5 billion dollar "dream machine" will find evidence that organic life once existed, or perhaps still does, on the surface of Mars. Also, the rovers landing site is in the crater Gale. Because this crater is so deep, it is likely that if water did ever exist on Mars, it would have found its way there. Everywhere on Earth where water exists, so does some from of life, therefore if evidence that water existed in the Gale crater is found, it is highly probable that evidence of living organisms would also be found there. This is ment to be a 2 year expedition, which will hopefully result in the discovery of microbial life on Mars, and lead to the launching of human missions to the surface of Mars, which would lead to many new discoveries about the planet.

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  5. 1. This is a picture of the mars Curiosity rover. this picture is actually made up of 55 photos taken by a robotic arm attached to the rover. the photos were then stitched together to create the above picture.
    2. The purpose of this mission is to run experiments on atmosphere and soil samples, to determine whether or not life could have once existed on mars and if microbial life does exist now.
    3. I hope that scientist will find that some sort of life exists on mars even if it is in the microbial form. That would mean that the prospect of someday sending humans to mars would be more feasible.

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  6. 1. This is a picture of the nuclear powered rover called Curiosity, but this is not just any ordinary photo. This picture consists of a total of 55 separate images taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager which is mounted at the end of a seven foot long robotic arm. Even though the Mars Hand Lens Imager was originally intended to take microscopic pictures of the surface of Mars, it can also capture some great high resolution pictures of itself. These images were then stitched together which resulted in this amazing picture of Curiosity. This self portrait shows Curiosity at "Rocknest" in Gale Crater, where the first mission sampling took place.

    2. The purpose of Curiosity's two year mission that began on September 14th (landed on August 5th) is to study the microbial the surface of Mars to try to determine if the planet had ever supported some type of microbial life, or if it currently does support some type of life. Curiosity takes samples of Martian rocks and the surface of the planet and then analyzes the samples on the go with a setup that is very similar to a mobile laboratory.

    3. I believe that I have the same hope as many people that have heard about this mission. I hope that scientists do find some evidence that supports that there once was some type of life on the planet of Mars, or even better, that there are still some forms of life on Mars. I hope that these discoveries are made not because I think that Mars will be a realistic place to send humans to inhabit in the near future, but because hopefully if these types of discoveries are made that we could gain valuable information about Mars, which might in turn lead to important discoveries about our own home, Earth.

    References: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/across-the-universe/2012/sep/14/astronomy-space

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  7. this is a picture of a mars rover.

    the mission was to find evidence of life on mars.

    i also dont think they will find life on mars or evidence of past life, but i hope they bring home lots of dust and stuff so one day i can look at it in a masuem or somthin.



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  8. Melany 3rd. This is a picture of curiosity, or a mars rover. It's mission is to collect samples of rocks and dust and anything else it can find so that scientists and analyze it and figure out the composition of the soil. Some things scientists are looking for are water and signs of life, like microrganisms. This data could maybe help us solve problems here on earth or show how mars could be useful to us.

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  9. That would be the Curiosity Rover.

    It's equipped with HD cameras, more advanced geological labs than its predecessors, and other assortments of science fun.

    It's goal is determine if there was any life on mars, and seeing what exactly Mars' soil contains.

    This mission will help us better understand our similar neighbor Mars.

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  10. This is a picture of a Mars rover named Curiosity.

    Its mission was to see if there is or ever was life on mars.

    This mission should help us better understand what is on Mars, if it is similar to Earth, and if it possible for life to be supported on Mars.

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  11. that's a picture of the mars rover curiosity

    its mission was to explore mars and search for signs of life and to collect samples

    this mission will help us gather information on whether there is life on mars or not, if it is suitable to live on mars, and whether or not us as humans would be able to colonize our neighboring planet

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