After visiting the Curiosity Rover on theKennedy Space CenterBefore its launch on November 26, 2011, we had another conversation with the robot, now that it is about to land on the Martian surface.
Very Interesting: Do you feel ready for the “seven minutes of terror”?
Curiosity: Well, look at it from this point of view: 6 in-vehicle settings, 76 pyrotechnic devices, 500,000 lines of software code, 1,600 degrees Celsius, 2,000 km per hour to zero in seven minutes, 0 margin of error. What can go wrong? Everything!
Very: For those who do not know you, who are you?
Curiosity: I am a planetary surface exploration robot, specially designed to work on Mars. I am about the size of a Mini Cooper car, that is, the largest that has landed on Mars sent by your human colleagues. I see myself as a great explorer. I’m actually quite a mobile laboratory.
Very: So you have a solid professional preparation …
Curiosity: Yes. My Curriculum Vitae says that I am a geologist, photographer, explorer, chemist, physicist, and engineer. And I’ll be bringing the most advanced stack of scientific instruments to Mars that has ever set foot on that planet. For you to see!
Very: What exactly are you going to do on Mars?
Curiosity: I am going to study its habitability: if the planet was or is suitable for the life of microbes. Don’t ask me if I’m going to find ET, because that’s not the idea. Humans have always wanted to know if there was a spontaneous generation of animal life there. Or vegetable. Or even viral. Whatever starts life – a spore from space (or Earth), a breeding ground in hot sulfur springs … – we don’t know if that happened on Mars. But it could have happened.
Very: It’s true. And how are you going to do such a study?
Curiosity: Ah, you see: I am equipped with a laser beam! You imagine? When I see something interesting, I will shoot it, and the laser will first study, and then, if we are interested, it will pulverize the surface of the rock. Then I will collect the dust, and put it into my laboratory, and do a very complete chemical analysis. It will be like being in Star Wars , in the Tatooine desert. It is going to be very fun!
Very: But what do you hope to find in that pulverized rock?
Curiosity: I thought you were never going to ask me. I will be looking for and identifying ingredients such as the small building blocks that biology uses to make living things, called organic compounds. The long-term preservation of organic compounds (which are carbon-containing molecules) requires certain special conditions. Some minerals are known to stick to organic compounds and protect them from rusting, and therefore from being ruined. In this way, I will look for these minerals to analyze them in search of organic compounds that the dust may have.
Very: And aren’t you going to fetch water?
Curiosity: You know that there is no respected Martian explorer who is not assigned to search for water. Liquid, on ice, on the surface, underneath, … Whatever. But I will do much more. I will have to use all my knowledge of geology to solve the mystery of where that water is.
Very: Tell me about Gale Crater, your landing site .
Curiosity: First of all, you should know that language academies already accept “landing” for the action of landing on dry land. Gale is a gulch 155 kilometers wide with a mountain in the center, near the Martian equator. The site was chosen from a total of 60 candidate locations because it offers something for all scientific disciplines looking to capitalize on this new exploratory stage. It is the dream of a geomorphist (person who studies the sediment layers to understand the processes that produced that sedimentation structure). But it also presents opportunities for traditional geologists looking to discover rock chemistry.
Very: Why is this mountain of sediment in the middle of Gale crater important?
Curiosity: Because the satellites flying over Mars have been discovering eroded patches there that have uncovered deposits of clays and sulfates (minerals formed in the presence of water). Determining the abundance and distribution of minerals, and whether they were formed by groundwater, lake water, or rain (three totally different things), will help researchers learn a lot about the habitability that it may have (or may not have) ) the Mars of antiquity.
Muy: I understand that you are going to have to climb a lot …
Curiosity: That’s the part I like the most about all this! The 5.5-kilometer-high mountain of sediment has a 45-degree slope. I will travel 200 meters a day, and that uphill is good exercise. I will be the first great Martian mountaineer. But first I must explore the crater walls.
Very: You have a lot of scientific instruments in tow, Curiosity !
Curiosity: Yes, like 10. And there is one that will let me “see” the ground below the surface, in search of these elements that I was talking about earlier. And a stereo camera that will let me see in all directions. But my favorite is the laser beam. I will be the envy of the entire planet.
How will you converse with your creators on Earth?
Curiosity: The guys at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are great, because they help me with the 10 to 25 minute delay between Mars and Earth, depending on the orbit of Mars at any given time, which can be very frustrating. It’s like playing ‘Broken Phone’. To talk to Earth I first have to call the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter, the Mars Odyssey or the Mars Express, which are orbiting Mars. They are not like us planetary surface exploration robots who freely roam around. They are more like rare birds that never land anywhere, but send my messages home, as if they were telephone exchanges. They also take nice photos from above. The truth is that I owe them a lot.
Muy: And what about all your first cousins who did amartizar and who are still there?
Curiosity: You mean Spirit and Opportunity? They are … sorry, they were … fantastic scientists. I mean, the brave Spirit is no longer of this world. Poor thing. Batteries ran out after nine years of operation! Realize that those twins were made to last less than half of what they have lived and worked for. I know that Opportunity is feeling a little lonely, there near the equator of the planet. But at least he has the company of the orbiters, even if they are rather strange birds.
Very: How long will you be active on Mars?
Curiosity: My friends at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA say 24 months. But I will tell you that we Martian explorers have a mania of extending our missions for years longer than they send us.
Very: Promise me that you will be very careful when lowering the crane in the early morning of August 5.
Curiosity: Don’t worry. I only know that I am going to have a lot of fun, although I know that my creators on Earth will be biting their nails. Poor things!
Text: Ángela Posada-Swafford, Senior Correspondent for Muy Interesante in the United States.
