<h5>Have humans been exploring planets other than Earth?</h5>  <p>While studying the solar system in school, have you ever wished you could travel to another planet? Humans have been dreaming of interplanetary travel for hundreds of years. The only place we’ve been to so far is the Moon. One of the biggest space travel goals for humanity in this century is to go to Mars. Though humans are not yet exploring Mars, something else is - robots!
A Mars rover is a robotic vehicle that travels on the surface of Mars, collecting and studying information about the red planet and sending it back to scientists on Earth. To date, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent five Mars rovers to Mars. Their names are Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and Perseverance.
</p> <h5>What is Curiosity?</h5>  <p>Curiosity is the largest rover ever to land on another planet. It’s about ten feet long, nine feet wide and weighs 900 kgs! That’s the size of a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). The reason it’s so heavy is that it’s carrying a whole laboratory inside it. It’s going to need a bunch of hi-fi scientific instruments to find out more about Mars. Its wheels are about twenty inches wide so it can travel across the rough and rocky surface of Mars.
Curiosity runs on electricity that’s produced by a small generator inside it. It left Earth in November 2011 and reached Mars in August 2012. It’s been roaming Mars for ten years now, telling us many cool facts about the planet that we otherwise couldn’t have known.
</p> <h5>What is Curiosity’s mission?</h5>  <p>Mars is an icy cold planet covered with red-coloured dirt. It has volcanoes, craters, mountains, and flat plains. There are also huge gaps where scientists think rivers once flowed, though there’s no sign of water on the planet now. 
Curiosity’s job is to: (i) find out more about the climate of Mars; (ii) study rocks on Mars to find out about the planet’s history; (iii) find if there was ever any kind of life on Mars; and (iv) prepare for human exploration of Mars.
</p> <h5>How is Curiosity doing this mission?</h5> <figure>
        <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/the-story-of-the-mars-rover--curiosity%2Fthe-story-of-the-mars-rover--curiosity-section1.jpeg?alt=media&token=fc21cc1b-95eb-410e-81da-68842fc94199" alt="How is Curiosity doing this mission?" >
        <figcaption>A close up of Curiosity using its tools to collect and study the soil of Mars. Photo by NASA / JPL-Caltech; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Curiosity_-_Robot_Geologist_and_Chemist_in_One!.jpg</figcaption>
      </figure> <p>Curiosity is carrying seventeen cameras. It uses some to click pictures. Other cameras act as its eyes, helping it stay away from danger. It has ten scientific instruments that it uses to study the things it collects. It has a seven-foot-long robotic arm that it uses as a hand. It even uses the arm to click selfies!
Curiosity has a super-strong antenna on its back that it uses to receive and send information to Earth. That’s how we know about all the things it’s up to on Mars.
</p> <h5>What has Curiosity discovered about Mars?</h5> <figure>
        <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/the-story-of-the-mars-rover--curiosity%2Fthe-story-of-the-mars-rover--curiosity-section2.jpeg?alt=media&token=b5554b5b-a553-4573-ac11-9e3e68388961" alt="What has Curiosity discovered about Mars?" >
        <figcaption>An actual image of Mars clicked by one of its cameras of Curiosity. Photo by NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS; https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/pia24269-3-16.jpg</figcaption>
      </figure> <p>The most exciting thing that Curiosity found was that once upon a time Mars had a habitable environment for living things. The environment on Mars doesn’t seem to support life now and there’s no proof that any plants or animals ever lived on Mars.</p>
<p>However, there’s absolute proof that a long time ago life could have survived on Mars. That’s very exciting news because it means that Mars could support life again someday.</p>
<p>Who knows, maybe in your lifetime humans will be moving to settle down on Mars. Would you want to continue living on our blue planet or would you like to move to this red one?
</p>

There’s a giant robot on Mars that’s going around exploring the planet and sending information to Earth. How is it doing this and what has it discovered? Let’s find out.

The Story of the Mars Rover - Curiosity

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The Story of the Mars Rover - Curiosity

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