Today In History: Curiosity Lands on Mars

I drill into rocks and scoop up material. I then test it in my onboard laboratory. Gradually, by piecing together information form different locations, NASA hopes to build a picture of the planet's past and perhaps discover why Mars changed from being a warm planet with water to the cold dry planet it is today. --Markus Motum, The Story of a Mars Rover.

On August 6th, 2012 Curiosity landed safely on the surface of Mars after being lowered down on cables in a "sky crane" maneuver. Dubbed the "Seven Minutes of Terror", the landing was the first of its kind, calling for 15 critical steps in a sequence that needed to be flawless.  The steps included entering Mars' atmosphere at a speed of over 1,000 miles per hour; dropping the heat shield and using a parachute to slow the speed to 200 miles per hour; detaching the back shell and firing the retro-rockets; lowering Curiosity on cables 60 feet from the surface; cutting the cables and steering the descent vehicle away from the site where the moving robot would land.

Built in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Los Angeles, Curiosity travelled over 350 million miles from its launch inside the expendable Atlas V rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral on November 26th, 2011.  It landed in Gale Crater and set an amazing record, with people tuning into from all over the world. The innovative landing topped the history of Mars exploration in which thirty-nine missions since 2007 were unsuccessfully undertaken.

An unquestionable giant, Curiosity is about 10 feet long and weighs in at around 2,000 pounds.  As it powerfully drills holes, it vacuums powder into its dextrous arm which then puts it into a laboratory for testing. The deeper Curiosity digs, the more information it gathers.  Why is this work important? Mars, which is about 4.6 billion years old, might have had a similar environment to Earth, having lakes, rivers, seas, and oceans -- essentially, water, a life force. 

Curiosity's name was suggested by sixth grader Clara Ma of Sunflower Elementary School, Lenexa, Kansas, who entered a public contest that received tens of thousands of entries.  Ma expressed, "Curiosity is the passion that drives us through our everyday lives. We have become explorers and scientists with our need to ask questions and to wonder... We will never know everything there is to know, but with our burning curiosity, we have learned so much."

As of today, Curiosity as travelled over twenty-two million miles on Mars and continues to strengthen scientific research.

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• Sappenfield, M. (2011, Jul 22). Where Did Life Exist on Mars? NASA Chooses Landing Site for Curiosity Rover: Curiosity Rover, Formally Known as the Mars Science Laboratory, Will land at the Foot of an 18,000-Foot Mountain in Gale Crater, NASA Announced Friday. The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Robert, L. H. (2012, Jul 03). Landing Looms for Mars Probe: NASA Scientists Hope $2.5 Billion Rover Will Be First to Drill in Search for Signs Planet Was Habitable. Wall Street Journal (1923-) 
• Red Alert: Curiosity Set to Hit Mars Tomorrow.  (2012, Aug 05). The Times of India (1861-) 
• Grant, D. (2012, Aug 06). A Star Is Born: Mars Rover Curiosity Has Legions of Fans All a-Twitter: NASA's Mars Rover Curiosity Began Tweeting to Avid Followers Years Before It Dramatically Landed on the Surface of Mars. But the Number of Its Followers Just Skyrocketed. The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Sample, I. (2012, Aug 07). 'Curiosity' Sends First Images Back to Earth After Mars Landing. The Irish Times (1921-) 
• Robert L. H. (2012, Aug 07). Rover Probes Secrets of Mars: Perfect Landing Launches Search for Past Life, But Future of Missions Is Murky. Wall Street Journal (1923-) 
• Shobha, J. (2012, Aug 12). The Indian Who Landed Curiosity: Renjith Kumar Worked So Hard on the Mars Rover that After Its Touchdown He Packed Off to Canada for a Holiday. The Times of India (1861-) 
• Wilson, B. (2012, Aug 30). Proof of Life?: What If the Mars Rover Does Find NASA Engineers Are Pleased with the Performance of the Curiosity Rover, But Will It Find Evidence That Mars Had the Ability to Harbour Current or Past Life on Mars? The Irish Times (1921-) 
• After a Month, Curiosity Set to Hit the Road Again: To Trek Across Mars in Search of a Rock to Drill Into. (2012, Nov 17). The Times of India (1861-) 
• Chang, K. (2013, Aug 06). An Earth Year on Mars: After Being Dropped on Mars Last August, NASA's Curiosity Rover Slowly Makes Its Way to Mount Sharp. New York Times (1923-) 

Tips:

• Baker, David. NASA Mars Rovers : 1997-2013 (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiousity) : An Insight into the Technology, History, and Development of NASA’s Mars Exploration Roving Vehicles. Haynes Publishing, 2013.  Curriculum  TL475 .B35 2013.
• Kaufman, Marc. Mars up Close : Inside the Curiosity Mission. First edition. National Geographic, 2014. Curriculum  QB641 .K24 2014.
• Manning, Rob, and William L. Simon. Mars Rover Curiosity : An inside Account from Curiosity’s Chief Engineer. Smithsonian Books, 2014.  Curriculum  TL799.M3 M36 2014.
• Miller, Ron. Curiosity’s Mission on Mars : Exploring the Red Planet. Twenty-First Century Books, 2014. e-book.
• Motum, Markus. Curiosity : The Story of a Mars Rover. First U.S. edition. Candlewick Press, 2018. Curriculum  TL475 .M68 2018.
• Poliskie, Michelle, editor. The Planning and Execution of Human Missions to the Moon and Mars. First edition. American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics, 2023.  e-book.
• Pyle, Rod. Curiosity : An inside Look at the Mars Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen. Prometheus Books, 2014. e-book.  Curriculum ; TL799.M3 P95 2014.

Images:

• Curiosity's 42 Drill Holes, Courtesy of NASA.
• Curiosity on Mars, Courtesy of Canva.

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