What HAS Curiosity Discovered?

W.G.Ewald

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Mars Mystery: What HAS Curiosity Discovered? : Discovery News
One of the prime mission objectives is for Curiosity is to understand the past and current habitability for life on the Red Planet. Curiosity can not directly detect the presence of Mars life, but it has been kitted-out with miniature laboratories capable of not only establishing what materials soil samples contain, but also whether the Mars soil contains carbon-laden organic molecules.

Should Curiosity detect these organics, the mission will have confirmed the presence of the building blocks of life on the surface of Mars. This does not, however, infer the genesis of life on Mars, it just means that some of the ingredients are there.

According to this NPR article, Grotzinger refers to the SAM data as being the source of the excitement. Indeed, one of the instrument's objectives is to address "carbon chemistry through a search for organic compounds, the chemical state of light elements other than carbon, and isotopic tracers of planetary change," according to the JPL mission site.
 

jalsa

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What is the operational life of the Curiosity?
 

SajeevJino

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NASA says Mars discovery isn't 'earthshaking' after all


After telling the world that the Mars Curiosity rover made a discovery "for the history books," NASA is now downplaying the importance of what was found.

NASA spokesperson Guy Webster elaborated some on the discovery, hoping to realign people's expectations.

"It won't be earthshaking but it will be interesting," Webster told Time. "As for history books, the whole mission is for the history books."


NASA says Mars discovery isn't 'earthshaking' after all | News | TechRadar

News from the World's Biggest Lier NASA

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What is the operational life of the Curiosity?
It has Powered with Nuclear ..and according to the COST minimum 10+ years
 

SajeevJino

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'

Those RTGs really have very long life, the one in Voyager 2 is still functioning.

That's satellite Functions like Gliding.....But this is a WORKING VEHICLE IN SOME TOUGH environment and we cannot compare Curiosity with the ISS too
 

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