The minimum expected life of Curiosity's nuclear power source is 14 years (2025).
That said, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are both still operating just fine (very very far from Earth) and both use the same type of power source as Curiosity. Voyager 1 and 2 were launched ~35 years ago and are expected to last until at least 2025 (total of about 47 years).
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The minimum expected life of Curiosity's nuclear power source is 14 years (2025).
That said, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are both still operating just fine (very very far from Earth) and both use the same type of power source as Curiosity. Voyager 1 and 2 were launched ~35 years ago and are expected to last until at least 2025 (total of about 47 years).
Lots of moving parts, dust, etc though... Would likely cut the life expectancy of of Curiosity compared to both Voyager space craft's?
I'm no expert but I would say that is unlikely. I mean... the rover may break at one point and not be able to move or maybe its arm will stop working, or devices on it will fail, but none of those outside factors should affect the power source.
Probably the most crippling thing that could happen to Curiosity would be to completely lose its computer.
If the computer still keeps working, the power source soldiers on (it should), and any of the on-board devices or cameras continue to operate, I would imagine it could continue to function for many years in some capacity.
Also: Thank you, those are awesome pictures!
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Water has been discovered in the fine-grained soil on the surface of Mars, which could be a useful resource for future human missions to the red planet, according to measurements made by Nasa's Curiosity rover.Each cubic foot of Martian soil contains around two pints of liquid water, though the molecules are not freely accessible, but rather bound to other minerals in the soil.
Looking at the round pebbles on Mars certainly suggests a wet past.
The piece of plastic? in the picture hasn't yet been identified for sure, likely it's from the spacecraft during landing but this pic was taken over 2 months after landing.after traveling about a mile.
Skeptics will probably say it's an alien candy wrapper.
Organic matter has been found on Mars in soil samples taken from 3 billion-year-old mudstone in the Gale crater by the Curiosity rover, NASA announced Thursday. The rover has also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere.
Very cool news indeed! I've always thought that life at one point existed on Mars. Maybe not aliens like on TV, but microbial organisms that could have flourished years ago. Very exciting news!
The cool thing about this discovery was that this rover can only drill about 5cm into a rock sample. The new Euro Mars rover in a couple years will be able to drill 2 meters down. A much more significant distance. A distance where possible organic material would be much more well preserved.
Very cool news indeed! I've always thought that life at one point existed on Mars. Maybe not aliens like on TV, but microbial organisms that could have flourished years ago. Very exciting news!
The cool thing about this discovery was that this rover can only drill about 5cm into a rock sample. The new Euro Mars rover in a couple years will be able to drill 2 meters down. A much more significant distance. A distance where possible organic material would be much more well preserved.
Who knows? time is hard to judge, scientists claim if the earth suffered a cataclysmic event it would only take 250,000 years to wipe out any and all surface evidence of any life forms or structures. evidence seems to suggest Mars as a functional planet died about one billion years ago so any evidence of prior life advanced or not will be hard to find.
Aren't we talking more pre-biotic materials then actual life.
I mean reading a book several years ago they talked about the steps that created life on earth being a 1 in a multibillions event. I'm not saying that there isn't life out there, but it might be such a rare occurrence that we might never find proof of sentient life out there. Not saying its not there, but it might be something that occurred billions of light years away.
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Aren't we talking more pre-biotic materials then actual life.
I mean reading a book several years ago they talked about the steps that created life on earth being a 1 in a multibillions event. I'm not saying that there isn't life out there, but it might be such a rare occurrence that we might never find proof of sentient life out there. Not saying its not there, but it might be something that occurred billions of light years away.
And some updated books suggest life is probably a common event especially if the planet is in the goldilocks zone with water.
One just needs to look at the places where life exists on this planet to get a grip on the power of "life"
- In Trinidad they have bubbling lakes of hot tar at over 130 degrees f, yet each gram of sticky black goo can harbor up to 10 million microbes.
- Hydro vents 3 miles down in the oceans have temperatures of 200 degrees f but somehow are home to eyeless shrimp, clams and tubeworms.
- Scientists have found microbes flourishing in rocks up to several miles below the surface of the Earth
- Bacteria has been found on the outside of the space station
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Aren't we talking more pre-biotic materials then actual life.
I mean reading a book several years ago they talked about the steps that created life on earth being a 1 in a multibillions event. I'm not saying that there isn't life out there, but it might be such a rare occurrence that we might never find proof of sentient life out there. Not saying its not there, but it might be something that occurred billions of light years away.
I thought that was more the odds of the evolution to mammals and man kind on earth. Things would no doubt evolve very differently but I didn't think the odds were that high for life to start and evolve in some other random way.
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