At the beginning of September I was assigned a mission into the unknown. I didn't know much about it or how to even conduct the mission. I wasn't trained in any way before this, so I thought. It turns out this mission wasn't really a new thing to me that I haven't learned before. Yes I have never done something like this in my life but this was a collaboration of everything I have learned throughout my years. It was a combination of analytical work, my own personal thoughts, proper writing and everything else you would learn with education.
The real challenges though was when I first started. I wasn't given an outline of how to do this mission. It was more of just dive right in and see if you can swim. Well, being the age that I am I didn't give up. I had to actually fight and struggle in order to survive, to do well on this mission. I couldn't just give up and try to pass again, and so that's what I did. Coming up with the ideas of what to write about and how to write about them was the biggest struggle. As a new blogger I didn't know if I was right or wrong when really there is no right or wrong.
After the initial jump things started to get easier. I planned ahead for what future topics I could write about because those topics interested me and I wanted to know more about it. So while I learn more about it I can also tell it to others who share the same interest as me. However, not all of the ideas came swiftly. I would then venture off into the community and find some ideas of what to talk about. I would read posts of other bloggers and while they mentions sentences of certain areas, that would ignite my rockets and then I would be able to sore off into the pages like a shuttle taking off.
Although you have to be consistent with writing and finding some sources, I really did enjoy this. I have definitely learned and grew as a writer. The old saying practice makes perfect was set into effect here. By writing every week I became stronger and more aware of what my flaws were, which would include finding sources, coming up with ideas, and translating my ideas into interesting facts and ideas that readers can understand and relate.
As all missions, they must come to an end. Even though I was late into doing this report I felt I had the need to tell all of you this. I'm not just some slacker who tried to get by with these reports. I enjoyed doing every single one of them including this one. I felt I had to complete this one last assignment to keep intact my integrity. I hope that by reading this, you may feel my passion for space. I entrust the next group of candidates to complete this same mission. Ending transmission.
Best of luck and Godspeed.
This is my Final BE
Shutting down...
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Not Your Regular Halo
Last week there was a huge space game release. It's the 6th game of all the series. It's called Halo 4. In this video game the setting takes place in the far future about 500 years from now. Earth has been attacked by aliens known as Covenant. For Earth to defend itself, the people started to create super soldiers known as Spartans. These soldiers were very tall, coordinated, and had super human abilities. Of all the Spartans in the game's story it follows Spartan 117. This Spartan is known as Master Chief.
He is armored up with an advanced combat space suit and also equipped with an A.I. known as Cortana. The suit color is a dark green and during the game you never see him without a helmet. The reason why you never get to see him without his helmet on is because it is fastened on that only a machine can take off. But I think the makers of the game are saving his face for another time because it keeps the main character a secret and always makes you wonder.
Now the story takes place in space. The humans who fight the Covenant live on these gigantic weaponry ships. The reason the ship is "weaponry" is because it is essentially also a gun that can fire a large beam at the enemy. Imagine a revolver but more squarish. Then remove the handle to the gun, make it gray, and add rocket ends to the back end of the gun. That's what the ships look like.n the ending of Halo 3 Master Chief and Cortana are separated with half of a ship during a space jump. Fortunately, the front half of the ship makes it through the worm whole and so Master Chief is left alone frozen in space for the next 3 years until Cortana wakes him.
Playing this game has become a bit of tradition. When the first Halo game came out I played it with a bunch of my friends. Then after the next one came out we continued to play together and so on. Although I have moved from my friends and no longer are in contact with them as much I still had the urge to buy the game and play it. I absolutely love it because it has a space theme to it. After completing missions, Master Chief voyages from planets to ships and back all over again. It constantly changes scenes and it opens your imagination.
To me this game has an extraordinary real-feel to it. It has definitely surpassed the graphics when the game first came out. The details on the gun are better. When you look closely at the gun when the player holds onto it you can see the groves of where the machinery cut it off and the different shine is has when holding it at different angles. One part during the story-line you are in a space craft flying around this huge ship that the enemy is controlling. Well when you get past the maze part you come to an open are on the ship. It's this giant open crater into the ship where it shoots its main gun. As you look up you can see the planet Earth in the future and it looks remarkable. If you have ever seen photographs of Earth from space before you would think that it's the real deal. The lush green forests of South America are still there and the sparkling endless blue water still looks beautiful and it gives you a good hope for the future that Earth will still be there for us.
I would recommend this game to other gamers who love a campaign game. The multiplayer is just like the previous games but its still fun if you have some friends. The main reason I bought the game though is for the campaign. Maybe as soon as I'm finished with that I might sell it.
I'm freezing on out.
This is BE#13
Signing out...
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Potential Foust
For the ending of this mission I'm doing a final analysis paper on those who are in the same kind of situation as me, or those who just are in the space business. I figure out what's the differences between me and them. What kind of writing do they do? What do they typically talk about? How do they talk about what they are writing?
When I first started, I came across someone who is actually well known for doing these types of blogs. His name is Jeff Foust. He happens to be a big figure in the space community. He is a senior analysis at Futron Corporation (a leading provider of Decision Management Solutions for aerospace, telecommunications, and technology enterprises). How I heard of him is through his website called, The Space Review.
Foust's website is composed of many different writers including himself. Any writer can come up with a blog or post about something recent that happened with space. The writers talked about many different subjects that I had no idea that existed. They would go into the bigger details about what NASA has planned for the future, space politics, and even interesting fun topics like the recent shuttle parade in L.A. Then, when it came to their writing they each had their own way of tone.
Most of them sounded like professionals and had a very informative writing. They would use space vocabulary that half the time I had to look up and find out what it meant. There were also the type of writers who just had a good relaxing tone. What I mean by that is the vocabulary used was easy to understand. It was a simple post that had images to capture your attention and would keep you occupied with the story.
Jeff Foust has created a community in of itself. He has many people who gather into his website and talk about different things, but one point of interest in common. Space.
It's my turn to join them.
This is BE#12
Signing Out...
When I first started, I came across someone who is actually well known for doing these types of blogs. His name is Jeff Foust. He happens to be a big figure in the space community. He is a senior analysis at Futron Corporation (a leading provider of Decision Management Solutions for aerospace, telecommunications, and technology enterprises). How I heard of him is through his website called, The Space Review.
Foust's website is composed of many different writers including himself. Any writer can come up with a blog or post about something recent that happened with space. The writers talked about many different subjects that I had no idea that existed. They would go into the bigger details about what NASA has planned for the future, space politics, and even interesting fun topics like the recent shuttle parade in L.A. Then, when it came to their writing they each had their own way of tone.
Most of them sounded like professionals and had a very informative writing. They would use space vocabulary that half the time I had to look up and find out what it meant. There were also the type of writers who just had a good relaxing tone. What I mean by that is the vocabulary used was easy to understand. It was a simple post that had images to capture your attention and would keep you occupied with the story.
Jeff Foust has created a community in of itself. He has many people who gather into his website and talk about different things, but one point of interest in common. Space.
It's my turn to join them.
This is BE#12
Signing Out...
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Response to the 180-Day report and lunar exploration
NASA had this 180-Day plan of what their goals were. Their main talk was about Mars. They were really interested about Mars thanks to Curiosity's successful landing. It was the latest and greatest news in the NASA community. It's also one of the biggest projects attempted to land on Mars and all of Mars' previous missions. Because of Curiosity, NASA seems to be focused on one thing and that's Mars.
I really wouldn't blame them. I think the accomplishment they made with Curiosity is really a huge feat. They spend years developing Curiosity itself and the delivery plan to get it there and ensure it'll land on the surface in one piece. I really love everything about what Curiosity is going to do. I think it's one of the best and most interesting news about space in my life time.
However, NASA didn't just talk about Mars. They had other talks about the moon which, "includes a section focusing on the scientific benefits of establishing a long-term human presence on the lunar surface" reported by the Journal. Even though there was a mention of the moon, they had no talks about a lunar station, which is a big deal.
How could you not talk about a lunar base? If NASA was able to successfully create a lunar base, I'm sure it would be even bigger news than the recent hits with Mars. Over 50 years ago, we set foot onto the moon. With the development of rockets and being able to go into space back in the day, we were able to actually have humans touch another surface besides Earth. So why 50 years later are we not going back to the moon and developing or creating projects that could have humans live on the moon? Why would we jump ahead of ourselves and try to go for Mars? Yes we are just exploring with robots, but if we could ever hope to live on Mars someday we have to experiment with the moon because of its availability.
The moon is much closer to Earth than Mars. It takes over 9 months to get to Mars. Compared to the moon, it only takes around 6 days to get to the moon and back to Earth (MoonPhases). Financially it would be much cheaper, it would be safer, and communication would be quicker.
If you send astronauts to Mars and see how things would go, they are guaranteed to have 0% chance of survival because of the time it would take to respond and send help. Even if they brought supplies for emergencies, I doubt their supplies would last them for 9 months. Then when they communicate, it takes 7 minutes for it to get back to Earth.
Now if you were to send astronauts to the moon and something went bad, it would only take 3 days to get them their help. They would most likely be able to bring enough supplies to last them for a week just in case. Also, communication would be much quicker; instantaneously. Sending messages travels just below the speed of light. So since the moon is closer, the speed of light would get to Earth and the moon quickly.
Even so, NASA should definitely consider lunar exploration in their future. For the next 180 days I can understand that Curiosity is a priority, but after that the next goals in mind should include the moon. It's the best place to test future space plans. It's much closer, involves space conditions that we would encounter anywhere else, and its cheaper to get there.
My mind has been made up and so has this post.
This is BE#11
Signing out...
Works Cited
Foust, Jeff. "Space Politics » The 180-Day Report and Lunar Exploration." Space Politics » The 180-Day Report and Lunar Exploration. Space Politics, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/09/13/the-180-day-report-and-lunar-exploration/>.
"How Long Does It Take to Get to the Moon." How Long Does It Take to Get to the Moon. Moon Phases, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://moonphases.info/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-to-the-moon.html>.
I really wouldn't blame them. I think the accomplishment they made with Curiosity is really a huge feat. They spend years developing Curiosity itself and the delivery plan to get it there and ensure it'll land on the surface in one piece. I really love everything about what Curiosity is going to do. I think it's one of the best and most interesting news about space in my life time.
However, NASA didn't just talk about Mars. They had other talks about the moon which, "includes a section focusing on the scientific benefits of establishing a long-term human presence on the lunar surface" reported by the Journal. Even though there was a mention of the moon, they had no talks about a lunar station, which is a big deal.
How could you not talk about a lunar base? If NASA was able to successfully create a lunar base, I'm sure it would be even bigger news than the recent hits with Mars. Over 50 years ago, we set foot onto the moon. With the development of rockets and being able to go into space back in the day, we were able to actually have humans touch another surface besides Earth. So why 50 years later are we not going back to the moon and developing or creating projects that could have humans live on the moon? Why would we jump ahead of ourselves and try to go for Mars? Yes we are just exploring with robots, but if we could ever hope to live on Mars someday we have to experiment with the moon because of its availability.
The moon is much closer to Earth than Mars. It takes over 9 months to get to Mars. Compared to the moon, it only takes around 6 days to get to the moon and back to Earth (MoonPhases). Financially it would be much cheaper, it would be safer, and communication would be quicker.
If you send astronauts to Mars and see how things would go, they are guaranteed to have 0% chance of survival because of the time it would take to respond and send help. Even if they brought supplies for emergencies, I doubt their supplies would last them for 9 months. Then when they communicate, it takes 7 minutes for it to get back to Earth.
Now if you were to send astronauts to the moon and something went bad, it would only take 3 days to get them their help. They would most likely be able to bring enough supplies to last them for a week just in case. Also, communication would be much quicker; instantaneously. Sending messages travels just below the speed of light. So since the moon is closer, the speed of light would get to Earth and the moon quickly.
Even so, NASA should definitely consider lunar exploration in their future. For the next 180 days I can understand that Curiosity is a priority, but after that the next goals in mind should include the moon. It's the best place to test future space plans. It's much closer, involves space conditions that we would encounter anywhere else, and its cheaper to get there.
My mind has been made up and so has this post.
This is BE#11
Signing out...
Works Cited
Foust, Jeff. "Space Politics » The 180-Day Report and Lunar Exploration." Space Politics » The 180-Day Report and Lunar Exploration. Space Politics, 13 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.spacepolitics.com/2012/09/13/the-180-day-report-and-lunar-exploration/>.
"How Long Does It Take to Get to the Moon." How Long Does It Take to Get to the Moon. Moon Phases, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://moonphases.info/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-to-the-moon.html>.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Space Jump
Late last week a man named, Felix Baumgartner, was higher than anyone has ever been on Earth without the use of a rocket. Setting a world record of the highest free fall and the fastest free fall ever. Thanks to Red Bull, he was able to accomplish this mission at the age of 43.
How did he get up there?
Well he used what many scientists use in order to get data about the atmosphere, except Felix used one that was bigger than the rest. It's called a weather balloon. The type of gas that goes into a weather balloon that makes it able to go so high is known as helium. Yes, the same "stuff" that you take out of a balloon at a party that makes your voice get all squeaky. After getting a massive balloon and filling it up with helium, they had a capsule attached to it so it could carry Felix 24 miles up into the air (Llorca).
What did he he do to accomplish his goals?
Going up so high, Felix had only one option. Jump. He stood at the end of his capsule and took a leap of faith at the edge of Earth. During the beginning of Felix's jump, he was unstable in the air. He was spinning wildly, but after a short amount of time he was able to fixate himself and gain control over his body. At this time, his goal was to break the world's fastest free fall, which he did so. Here is what Juan Carlos Llorca who wrote an article about Felix's record setting jump said about his glory.
People like to call this the Space Jump because when you're up that high, you're practically in space. If you Felix were to keep going another 75 miles up he would be where only space shuttles can reach. The reason behind people saying Felix was practically in space is because without a space shuttle, you're not getting any higher.
It's my time to jump on out of this.
This is BE#10
Signing out...
Works Cited
Llorca, Juan C. "Felix Baumgartner Completes Record-Setting Jump." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/felix-baumgartner-jump-redbull-skydive_n_1965299.html>.
How did he get up there?
Well he used what many scientists use in order to get data about the atmosphere, except Felix used one that was bigger than the rest. It's called a weather balloon. The type of gas that goes into a weather balloon that makes it able to go so high is known as helium. Yes, the same "stuff" that you take out of a balloon at a party that makes your voice get all squeaky. After getting a massive balloon and filling it up with helium, they had a capsule attached to it so it could carry Felix 24 miles up into the air (Llorca).
What did he he do to accomplish his goals?
Going up so high, Felix had only one option. Jump. He stood at the end of his capsule and took a leap of faith at the edge of Earth. During the beginning of Felix's jump, he was unstable in the air. He was spinning wildly, but after a short amount of time he was able to fixate himself and gain control over his body. At this time, his goal was to break the world's fastest free fall, which he did so. Here is what Juan Carlos Llorca who wrote an article about Felix's record setting jump said about his glory.
Felix Baumgartner hit Mach 1.24, or 833.9 mph, according to preliminary data, and became the first person to reach supersonic speed without traveling in a jet or a spacecraft after hopping out of a capsule that had reached an altitude of 128,100 feet above the Earth.That's an incredible high speed fall! The best way to put this into something that is easier to think about: get two people to stand about 3 football fields away from each other. Then, have one of you clap. If you do this you will see the person clap their hands together before you hear the sound of their clap if it's loud enough. Now think of this, when that same person claps their hand Felix will have traveled to you before you even would have heard the clap because he exceeded the speed of sound about a quarter more. That's a lot of distance to cover and he would definitely look like Superman if he flew by you like that.
People like to call this the Space Jump because when you're up that high, you're practically in space. If you Felix were to keep going another 75 miles up he would be where only space shuttles can reach. The reason behind people saying Felix was practically in space is because without a space shuttle, you're not getting any higher.
It's my time to jump on out of this.
This is BE#10
Signing out...
Works Cited
Llorca, Juan C. "Felix Baumgartner Completes Record-Setting Jump." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Oct. 2012. Web. 21 Oct. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/14/felix-baumgartner-jump-redbull-skydive_n_1965299.html>.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Love
Recently I've watched a movie called Love. It came with an album that I bought from Angels and Airwaves. They are an alternative-rock band that started in 2005. Their music is very instrumental but still uses the core needs of guitars, bases, and awesome drumming. Here is a link to one of their music videos based on the movie.
In this movie called Love, it starts off with a Union soldier, Captain Lee Briggs during the American civil war. He was the sole survivor of countless battalions that fell to the Confederacy. It turns out, the place where he was stationed was going to be over-runned like his previous days in the war. So the general called Briggs into his den. He told them they discovered something extraordinary; a life changing event. The general told Briggs he wanted him to go see this discovery. And so Captain Lee Briggs set off to the west to find what was in the desert.
Then, the movie jumps ahead in the year of 2038. It showed astronaut named Lee Miller. He was one of the first people to go back into space after the shuttle program at NASA was shut down. During his mission he was alone and giving feedback to Houston. Then one day Houston sends Miller some files and asks for a future coordinates. After complying, Miller starts to get suspicious and asks why they would need it. Houston responds back and tells him it's just for protocol.
Shortly after, Miller's worst fear comes about. He lost communication with Houston. He tries for days to reestablish the communication but he is unable to get a respond from Houston. With this crisis on his hands he is slowly going crazy and tries his best to remain sane. Days go by and over time he has to convert all of his powers in the space station to life support so he can live.
Over the movie you see him start to hallucinate and play cards with himself. He puts paper on the small rounded windows and draws on them. His face starts to become full with a beard and his hair grows long. Then, he does the unthinkable. He makes a recording of himself and how long he has been in space. He says he has been alone for 6 years and lost communication with everyone. He makes a statement saying, "I would rather rest on Earth than to stay up here alone." During this time it shows him holding onto the line that ties him to the space station. He looks at the glowing blue water of Earth and closes his eyes. His hands grip the hook getting ready to release. Then suddenly, he pulls his hands away and opens his eyes. He realized he couldn't do it.
After coming back inside, time goes on again and while laying down looking at the white piece of paper he drew pictures on you hear static on the radio. Your heart begins to race as you hear exactly what you and Miller wanted to hear. Sounds of life. He quickly rips off the paper and looks outside only to see what looks to be a giant black building floating in space. He races to communications and stares at the screen. Then the monitor initiates the docking procedures.
Miller then crawls through the cushioned path to get into the mystery building. He gets inside and what he sees is a bunch of different interior designed rooms. Some look to be as if it came from the 1900s and others from a spectacular cathedral. Then, he gets to a room with a little TV and a microphone with a red button on it that you push to talk. He pushes the red button. A recoding starts to play and tells him all about what happened and why he had to stay up there alone.
However, I am not going to spoil the ending. If you are curious and want to know what happened then you're going to have to watch the movie. It's an independent kind of film and is slow but it really gets under your skin and makes you think about everything.
Here's a little preview of the movie for you though.
It's time for me to get back to communications.
This is BE#9
Signing out...
In this movie called Love, it starts off with a Union soldier, Captain Lee Briggs during the American civil war. He was the sole survivor of countless battalions that fell to the Confederacy. It turns out, the place where he was stationed was going to be over-runned like his previous days in the war. So the general called Briggs into his den. He told them they discovered something extraordinary; a life changing event. The general told Briggs he wanted him to go see this discovery. And so Captain Lee Briggs set off to the west to find what was in the desert.
Then, the movie jumps ahead in the year of 2038. It showed astronaut named Lee Miller. He was one of the first people to go back into space after the shuttle program at NASA was shut down. During his mission he was alone and giving feedback to Houston. Then one day Houston sends Miller some files and asks for a future coordinates. After complying, Miller starts to get suspicious and asks why they would need it. Houston responds back and tells him it's just for protocol.
Shortly after, Miller's worst fear comes about. He lost communication with Houston. He tries for days to reestablish the communication but he is unable to get a respond from Houston. With this crisis on his hands he is slowly going crazy and tries his best to remain sane. Days go by and over time he has to convert all of his powers in the space station to life support so he can live.
Over the movie you see him start to hallucinate and play cards with himself. He puts paper on the small rounded windows and draws on them. His face starts to become full with a beard and his hair grows long. Then, he does the unthinkable. He makes a recording of himself and how long he has been in space. He says he has been alone for 6 years and lost communication with everyone. He makes a statement saying, "I would rather rest on Earth than to stay up here alone." During this time it shows him holding onto the line that ties him to the space station. He looks at the glowing blue water of Earth and closes his eyes. His hands grip the hook getting ready to release. Then suddenly, he pulls his hands away and opens his eyes. He realized he couldn't do it.
After coming back inside, time goes on again and while laying down looking at the white piece of paper he drew pictures on you hear static on the radio. Your heart begins to race as you hear exactly what you and Miller wanted to hear. Sounds of life. He quickly rips off the paper and looks outside only to see what looks to be a giant black building floating in space. He races to communications and stares at the screen. Then the monitor initiates the docking procedures.
Miller then crawls through the cushioned path to get into the mystery building. He gets inside and what he sees is a bunch of different interior designed rooms. Some look to be as if it came from the 1900s and others from a spectacular cathedral. Then, he gets to a room with a little TV and a microphone with a red button on it that you push to talk. He pushes the red button. A recoding starts to play and tells him all about what happened and why he had to stay up there alone.
However, I am not going to spoil the ending. If you are curious and want to know what happened then you're going to have to watch the movie. It's an independent kind of film and is slow but it really gets under your skin and makes you think about everything.
Here's a little preview of the movie for you though.
It's time for me to get back to communications.
This is BE#9
Signing out...
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The Latest Kind
Curiosity: the desire to learn or know about anything
One of the most recent and greatest accomplishments ever done by NASA happened in August. Less than two months ago, the newest rover to the Mars collection has landed on the surface. It's name is Curiosity.
Perfect Name
A name that suites the rover perfectly well. Curiosity sets out to do just exactly what we are thinking about of Mars. We are curious to find out just what type of planet it used to be. The mysteries behind the scientific guesses that there used to be water on Mars, or if Mars would be a candidate of sustaining life in the past or possible, us in the future.
Curiosity's Delivery Package
Before Curiosity is able to be sent to Mars, JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) of NASA had to gather data about how they were going to land safely. As in the previous rover missions, NASA would still use a heat shield to get into Mar's atmosphere. The heat shield slows down the delivery package down considerably much, from 13,000mph to about 1,000 mph. That's about 92% of a loss of speed just from the heat shield. Then once it's down to 1,000mph it needs something else to slow it down even further.
JPL will use a parachute to slow down the rover after the heat shield gets dislodged. After the parachute is deployed it would slow down its decent to about 200 mph (Wall). But this parachute had to be much bigger than the previous ones because of the size of Curiosity was nearly twice as big as Spirit and Opportunity. This was an easier fix than the next problem.
Instead of using cushions around the rover like they did with Spirit and Opportunity, JPL had to figure out another way of landing because once again of the size of Curiosity. So they came up with a brand new idea for the car sized rover to land. NASA said this would be the "least crazy" idea they could come up with. It was a method called the Sky Crane. The Sky Crane would use rockets to slow down Curiosity until its speed is less than 2 mph (Wall). At long last, Curiosity will descend onto the Mars surface while attached to cables. Once all of the 6 wheels have touched down the Sky Crane would then detach the rover and fly away to a safe distance and crash.
Here is a video on what is known as the "7 minutes of terror."
Curiosity's Landing & Discovery
As Curiosity landed on Mars, it's first phases of operating was to test its instruments and programs. It was able to send quick low quality images of its landing within minutes of touching down. Some time after landing, Curiosity was able to send some better HD pictures of rocks and dirt it has found. These pictures were able to provide very good scientific evidence that there was once water on Mars (Kaufman). In the Washington Post here's what article writer, Marc Kaufman, had to say.
The horizon is setting, and so am I.
This is BE#8
Signing out...
Works Cited
Wall, Mike . "Mars Rover Curiosity's Sky Crane Was 'Least Crazy' Idea, NASA Says."
The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/mars-rover-curiosity-sky-crane_n_1738742.html>.
Kaufman, Marc. "Curiosity Mars Landing Site." Washington Post. The Washington Post,
28 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health
-science/curiosity-rovers-mars-landing-site-was-once-covered-with-fast-moving-water-nasa-
says/2012/09/27/9ce654a0-08d2-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html>.
YouTube. Dir. NASA JPLnews. YouTube. YouTube, 22 June 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s>.
One of the most recent and greatest accomplishments ever done by NASA happened in August. Less than two months ago, the newest rover to the Mars collection has landed on the surface. It's name is Curiosity.
Perfect Name
A name that suites the rover perfectly well. Curiosity sets out to do just exactly what we are thinking about of Mars. We are curious to find out just what type of planet it used to be. The mysteries behind the scientific guesses that there used to be water on Mars, or if Mars would be a candidate of sustaining life in the past or possible, us in the future.
Curiosity's Delivery Package
Before Curiosity is able to be sent to Mars, JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) of NASA had to gather data about how they were going to land safely. As in the previous rover missions, NASA would still use a heat shield to get into Mar's atmosphere. The heat shield slows down the delivery package down considerably much, from 13,000mph to about 1,000 mph. That's about 92% of a loss of speed just from the heat shield. Then once it's down to 1,000mph it needs something else to slow it down even further.
JPL will use a parachute to slow down the rover after the heat shield gets dislodged. After the parachute is deployed it would slow down its decent to about 200 mph (Wall). But this parachute had to be much bigger than the previous ones because of the size of Curiosity was nearly twice as big as Spirit and Opportunity. This was an easier fix than the next problem.
Instead of using cushions around the rover like they did with Spirit and Opportunity, JPL had to figure out another way of landing because once again of the size of Curiosity. So they came up with a brand new idea for the car sized rover to land. NASA said this would be the "least crazy" idea they could come up with. It was a method called the Sky Crane. The Sky Crane would use rockets to slow down Curiosity until its speed is less than 2 mph (Wall). At long last, Curiosity will descend onto the Mars surface while attached to cables. Once all of the 6 wheels have touched down the Sky Crane would then detach the rover and fly away to a safe distance and crash.
Here is a video on what is known as the "7 minutes of terror."
Curiosity's Landing & Discovery
As Curiosity landed on Mars, it's first phases of operating was to test its instruments and programs. It was able to send quick low quality images of its landing within minutes of touching down. Some time after landing, Curiosity was able to send some better HD pictures of rocks and dirt it has found. These pictures were able to provide very good scientific evidence that there was once water on Mars (Kaufman). In the Washington Post here's what article writer, Marc Kaufman, had to say.
The confirmation of water flows came in the early days of a mission that had very consciously discarded the long-standing NASA directive to “follow the water” in Mars exploration.Although finding and studying the signatures of past water flows are important for Curiosity’s goal of identifying habitats that could have supported life, the mission motto is now “follow the carbon.” That element is present in all organic compounds, which are the building blocks of life on Earth and are expected to have been similarly essential to any possible Martian life.Curiosity will be on Mars for the remainder of its life. Its mission will last about 2 years. It's got a lot of ground to cover to reach its final destination, Gale Crater. Its findings will possible change all of what we know on Mars and what we don't know. Curiosity is one of NASA's latest and greatest creations and this rover will help broaden our knowledge of the Mars frontier.
The horizon is setting, and so am I.
This is BE#8
Signing out...
Works Cited
Wall, Mike . "Mars Rover Curiosity's Sky Crane Was 'Least Crazy' Idea, NASA Says."
The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Aug. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/mars-rover-curiosity-sky-crane_n_1738742.html>.
Kaufman, Marc. "Curiosity Mars Landing Site." Washington Post. The Washington Post,
28 Sept. 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health
-science/curiosity-rovers-mars-landing-site-was-once-covered-with-fast-moving-water-nasa-
says/2012/09/27/9ce654a0-08d2-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html>.
YouTube. Dir. NASA JPLnews. YouTube. YouTube, 22 June 2012. Web. 02 Oct. 2012.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s>.
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