Is life possible on Mars? This and many other questions will probably find answers as NASA Mars rover starts examining 'Windjana', a sandstone slab
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is hogging limelight at the moment. The small rover that has been sent on the surface of the red planet to study its atmosphere is involved in some real serious work since landing on the Martian surface.
The rover that has been equipped with ultra modern gadgets is not just taking photos of different parts of Mars and sending photos to its masters at NASA, it is also drilling and then studying Martian rocks to know about its composition.
Already it has drilled on two different places and now NASA is all excited about the Mars Curiosity rovers' third drilling exercise set to begin pretty soon.
The car-sized robotic rover was sent by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory in the year 2011 that landed on Mars in August next year.
Mars Curiosity rover is now stationed very close to its third drilling spot. NASA scientists who are obviously excited about the new drilling project, the third for the Curiosity rover, suggest that it is going to deploy several tools to accomplish the task. The process of inspection of the drilling site, that is going to be a deciding factor, whether to go ahead for drilling or not will be rather long. NASA scientists say that the rover will be using camera and X-ray spectrometer to take a look at the rock to study its composition. Besides it will also use another important instrument that actually fires laser shots from the Curiosity rovers' mast. There is no denying the fact that Mars Curiosity Rover is an important tool in the hands of NASA to find out truth about the red planet. It is trying its best to understand as to whether the planet was ever liveable or for that matter it contains water now or any time in the past.
The exercise will take several days and it will take a long time to see the results of the drilling. There is a sort of enthusiasm among the space enthusiasts across the world. NASA scientists are saying that they want the Curiosity rover to actually study and examine a target patch on the rock to decide if it actually needed to dril there or not.
The small rover has proved to be a great source of information for Mars Science Laboratory and NASA since it landed there. Mars rover has been sending steady stream of images from the red planet. Earlier this month, following the capture of an image by NASA's Mars Curiosity rover, the talk started whether the green image was of an alien from Mars. Though after a prolong discussion it was established that it was just a reflection, a glare on a lens or a technical error, this has not stopped people from engaging themselves in speculative stories. Many theories have been doing the rounds and one is that there is life on Mars. A post in a UFO daily read: "This could indicate there is intelligent life below the ground and uses light as we do. There is not a glare from the sun, nor is it an artifact of the photo process." Hopefully the drilling will prove that NASA can sustain life.
Source : http://nvonews.com/nasa-mars-rover-starts-examining-windjana-a-sandstone-slab/
