{"id":13919,"date":"2023-08-11T09:53:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-11T04:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=13919"},"modified":"2025-04-02T08:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T02:54:45","slug":"mars-curiosity-rover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mars-curiosity-rover\/","title":{"rendered":"Mars Curiosity Rover"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>About Mars Curiosity Rover<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>U.S. robotic vehicle<\/strong> designed to <strong>explore the surface of Mars.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It was <strong>launched aboard an Atlas V rocket from<\/strong> Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida <strong>on Nov. 26, 2011, and landed on Aug. 5, 2012,<\/strong> after taking eight months and 10 days to reach the Red Planet.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The rover is <strong>currently roaming Mars&#8217; landscape<\/strong> <strong>looking for signs of life and learning<\/strong> about the <strong>Red Planet&#8217;s unique environment<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The rover is <strong>part of NASA&#8217;s Mars Science Laboratory mission<\/strong> which <strong>tested a novel landing method <\/strong>that saw the <strong>spacecraft descend on a parachute before its landing system fired up its rockets and hovered<\/strong> as the rover was lowered down onto the surface.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><strong>Features<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>It is about <strong>3 metres long and weighs about 900 kg.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It <strong>does not rely on solar cells for its energy needs<\/strong> but rather <strong>draws its electric power from a thermoelectric power generator<\/strong>, with the <strong>heat source being the radioactive decay of plutonium<\/strong> and the heat sink being Mars\u2019s atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>According to NASA, Curiosity <strong>has four<\/strong> <strong>main science goals<\/strong> in support of the agency&#8217;s Mars exploration program:\n<ul>\n<li>Determine <strong>whether life ever arose on Mars.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Characterize the climate<\/strong> of Mars.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Characterize the geology<\/strong> of Mars.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Prepare for human exploration.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>What is NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover?<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a <strong>robotic explorer to land on Mars as part of NASA\u2019s ongoing Mars 2020 Mission.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Main Job:<\/strong> <strong>Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples<\/strong> <strong>of rock and regolith<\/strong> (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.<\/li>\n<li>The rover will <strong>collect samples of rock and soil<\/strong>, <strong>encase them in tubes<\/strong>, and <strong>leave them on the planet&#8217;s surface to be returned to Earth at a future date<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Launch<\/strong>: It was launched on <strong>July 30, 2020<\/strong> from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Landing<\/strong>: <strong>Successfully landed<\/strong> <strong>on the surface of Mar&#8217;s<\/strong> Jezero Crater <strong>on Feb. 18, 2021.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Features<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li>It is about <strong>3 metres long<\/strong>, 2<strong>.7 metres wide, and 2.2 metres tall.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is about the <strong>size of a car<\/strong>, but weighs only about <strong>1,025 kilograms<\/strong> with all instruments on board.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Power source:<\/strong> <strong>Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG).<\/strong> Converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What is thermoelectricity?<\/h3>\n<p>Thermoelectricity, also known as the thermoelectric effect, refers to the phenomenon in which a temperature gradient across a material results in the generation of an electric voltage or potential difference. This effect is a manifestation of the relationship between temperature and the movement of charge carriers (usually electrons) within a conductive material.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.latestly.com\/socially\/technology\/science\/cracks-on-mars-curiosity-mars-rover-spots-distinctive-hexagonal-mud-cracks-on-the-planet-nasa-shares-pics-5333561.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Cracks on Mars: Curiosity Mars Rover Spots Distinctive Hexagonal Mud Cracks On the Planet, NASA Shares Pics<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mars Curiosity Rover is a U.S. robotic vehicle designed to explore the surface of Mars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}