Discovering Mars with the Latest Technology

          The Mars Curiosity Rover has been equipped with advanced computer technology facilitating its adaptation to the challenges present in the red planet. Curiosity has two computers, which allows to storage small amounts of data that is automatically saved in the event that electric power is interrupted.

          Engineers on Earth, on a daily basis, send instructions to the computer in order to achieve the activities of the day. Curiosity has a laser with the ability to recognize the rocks and theirs characteristics. It also possesses a seven-foot long arm that can reach Martian soil and rocks and that is able to find out about what the past environment was like.

          This robot has made it possible to find details about Mars that we may have not known before thanks to its technological advanced system.

Engineering Team:

Alejandro Diaz and Reidel Nabut

September 29, 2030.

Curiosity Rover Finds Primeval Organic Molecules on Mars

            

            
           Mars Curiosity rover has measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in its atmosphere from previous readings. I appears to fluctuate and it is now 10 times higher than last year. Further, Curiosity has detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by the robotic laboratory's drill.

            Curiosity detected organic chemicals in powder drilled from a rock dubbed Cumberland, the first definitive detection of organics in surface materials of Mars.

            These Martian organics could either have formed on Mars or been delivered to Mars by meteorites. Organic molecules, which contain carbon and usually hydrogen, are chemical building blocks of life, although they can exist without the presence of life.

            Curiosity's findings from analyzing samples of atmosphere and rock powder do not reveal whether Mars has ever harbored living organisms, but the findings do shed light on a chemically active modern Mars and on favorable conditions for life on ancient Mars.

Source: http://www.gizmag.com/curiosity-mars-complex-organic-chemistry/35241/

Group (Chemistry): Ailet Reyes and Rene Piedra

Mars Petrified Sand Dunes. Coincidence? Unlikely!

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/mars-panorama-from-curiosity-shows-petrified-sand-dunes

         On August 27th, 2015 Curiosity’s Mast Camera was able to capture dozens of individual images combined into the photo you see above at the base of Mt. Sharp using two cameras. The color of the Mastcam mosaic was altered to resemble daytime lighting conditions on earth.

         These Mastcam photos show large-scale crossbedding in the sandstones where deposits of sand dunes were formed by wind, then cemented into rock. Curiosity has been closely examining the base of Mount Sharp for clues about the mountain’s past and the current environment. Researchers, in fact, are close to confirm that there is liquid water on the planet although in unknown amounts.

         Is it a coincidence that crossbedding like the one on Mars is also common in the sandstones of the U.S. Southwest? What will Curiosity find next?

         Biology Group: Ines Gonzales, Alexa Jauregui, Maria Rodriguez