News From Our Neighboring Planet
The New York Times. August 8, 2012
Mars never gets old. Every time we get a new look at the planet we see
it in higher resolution. The earliest images shot from a dedicated
spacecraft, taken by Mariner 4 in July 1965, look more like images from
an abdominal ultrasound than photographs of a planet.
Now, nearly half a century later, we can watch ourselves watching Mars.
After the rover Curiosity landed successfully early Monday morning, it
was photographed on the Martian surface by the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter passing overhead. Curiosity was already looking out toward the
horizon, its instruments coming online one by one.
This new landing — a triumph of scientific technology — tells us as much
about the human imagination as it does about the fourth planet from the
sun. Compared with what science fiction writers have made of Mars, the
Curiosity mission looks rudimentary, almost primitive. But the spark of
actuality is far more captivating than anything we can imagine. We have
been seeing detailed images of Mars for years. And yet when Curiosity
began transmitting from Gale Crater, it presented us with the cognitive
shock of seeing Mars in something close to real time.
Curiosity’s operations are complex, but its mission is simple: to
examine the chemistry of Mars in hopes of learning whether it might have
supported microbial life. The landing was a one-time drama. What we get
now is the continuing drama of interplanetary observation. If all goes
well, there will be a flood of data arriving from Curiosity’s sensors
and cameras. And for many people, each new increment of knowledge will
be a new inducement to walk outside on a clear, dark night and look for
that tiny red dot of reflected light overhead.
Related articles:
-
After Safe Landing, Rover Sends Images From Mars (August 7, 2012)
-
Curiosity Rover Lands Safely on Mars (August 6, 2012)
Times Topic: Mars
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