The rushing water of a flood would have pushed lots of rocks and dirt into one place. Scientists were interested in this area because it looked like the site of an ancient flood. The rover explored an area of Mars near its landing site called Ares Vallis. The Sojourner rover drives around on the Martian surface and rolls one of its wheels up on a rock. After the lander touched down on Mars, a panel opened and Sojourner rolled out to start exploring. The pyramid shape helped ensure the lander and rover could be flipped right-side-up, no matter how they landed. The airbags helped the lander have a safe, bouncy landing. The lander was shaped like a pyramid and was covered in airbags. It traveled within a spacecraft called a lander. Sojourner wasn’t alone on its journey to Mars. However, it went on to share lots of important new information with scientists. It was only about the size of a microwave oven. This robotic explorer, called a rover, was named Sojourner. For the first time, they used a small wheeled robot to study the surface of Mars. In fact, NASA even equipped Curiosity's counterpart, the Perseverance rover, with samples of spacesuit materials to assess how they hold up to radiation over time.In 1997, NASA scientists did something pretty amazing. RAD's findings will feed into a much larger body of data being compiled for future crewed missions. More observations are needed to assess just how dangerous a really powerful solar storm would be to humans on the Martian surface. Events such as solar flares and storms are one type of space weather that happens most frequently during increased solar activity-the time we are approaching now," Ehresmann said. "This is an exciting time for us, because one of the important objectives of RAD is to characterize the extremes of space weather. X-class flares are the most intense category of solar flares, the largest of which can lead to power outages and communications blackouts on Earth. In fact, RAD observed evidence of the first X-class flare of the new solar cycle on Oct. Scientists are just now starting to see activity pick up as the Sun comes out of its slumber and becomes more active. We're now looking for other locations where RAD can repeat these kinds of measurements." "At Murray Buttes, we finally had these conditions and the data to analyze this effect. "We've been waiting a long time for the right conditions to get these results, which are critical to ensure the accuracy of our computer models," said Bent Ehresmann of the Southwest Research Institute, lead author of the recent paper. These numbers are statistically high enough to show it was due to Curiosity's location at the foot of the cliff rather than normal changes in the background radiation. More significantly, the instrument detected a 7.5% decrease in neutral particle radiation, including neutrons that can penetrate rock and are especially harmful to human health. While there, RAD measured a 4% decrease in overall radiation. In a paper published this summer in JGR Planets, they detailed how Curiosity remained parked against a cliff at a location called "Murray Buttes" from Sept. That radiation can wreak havoc on human health, and it can seriously compromise the life support systems that Mars astronauts will depend on, as well.īased on data from Curiosity's RAD, researchers are finding that using natural materials such as the rock and sediment on Mars could offer some protection from this ever-present space radiation. Unlike Earth, Mars doesn't have a magnetic field to shield it from the high-energy particles whizzing around in space.
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