Você acaba de pousar em Marte e abre os olhos: o que você vê?
Se você for o 'jipe' Curiosity, verá um lugar estranho, cheio de cascalho, com uma grande montanha ao longe. Você pousou no alvo, próximo à borda da Cratera Gale, com 150 quilômetros de diâmetro, com o Monte Sharp no horizonte, uma elevação no centro da cratera.
Sendo um veículo do tamanho de um carro, com seis rodas e um laser, você se prepara para começar uma missão exploratória com dois anos de duração, subindo o Monte Sharp, procurando pistas que possam indicar se algum dia houve vida em Marte.
No momento, você ainda está parado, faz uma inspeção em si mesmo, e recebe instruções detalhadas da Terra sobre as coisas que você vai precisar saber quando estiver rodando por lá, tentando evitar sofrer uma capotagem ou ficar atolado na areia. Sua exploração sobre rodas deverá começar dentro de poucos dias. O que será que você vai encontrar? O que haverá por lá?
A gravidade no equador de Marte equivale a pouco mais de um terço (38%) da de nosso planeta, a boa e velha Terra, 3.69 m/s², ou 0,376g. Isso significa que se você pesasse 45 kg na Terra, pesaria 16 kg no Planeta Vermelho.
Ah, sim, faltou falar da atmosfera e temperatura de Marte:no verão, ela oscila entre cerca de agradáveis 20ºC e gélidos 90ºC à noite no equador. No inverno polar ela cai para cerca de -140ºC. Sua atmosfera é basicamente composta por gás carbônico (CO2), 96%.
You've just
landed on Mars
and opened your eyes - what do you see?
If you're the Curiosity rover, you see a strange gravelly place with a large mountain in the distance. You've landed on target near the edge of 150-km wide Gale Crater, with Mount Sharp on the horizon being the rise in the crater's center.
As a car-sized rover with six wheels and a laser, you prepare yourself to go on a two-year mission of exploration, climbing Mt. Sharp, and looking for signs that Mars once harbored life.
Currently you sit motionless, check yourself over, and receive a detailed briefing from Earth on things you will need to know while rolling around, trying to avoid flipping over or getting your wheels stuck in sand. Your rolling explorations will likely start in a few days. What will you find? What's out there?
Gravity on Mars is a little over one-third (38%) of that of good 'ol Earth. The equatorial gravity on Mars is 3.69 m/s² or 0.376g. Thus, if you weighed 100 lbs on Earth, you'd weigh just 37lbs on the Red Planet.
Oops, let's not forget to talk about its temperatures and atmosphere: it ranges from around –140 °C (−220 °F) during the polar winters and a pleasant daytime 20° C (70° F) or a chilling -90ºC (-130ºF) at night in the summer on the equator. The atmosphere is composed chiefly by carbon dioxide (CO2), 97%.
If you're the Curiosity rover, you see a strange gravelly place with a large mountain in the distance. You've landed on target near the edge of 150-km wide Gale Crater, with Mount Sharp on the horizon being the rise in the crater's center.
As a car-sized rover with six wheels and a laser, you prepare yourself to go on a two-year mission of exploration, climbing Mt. Sharp, and looking for signs that Mars once harbored life.
Currently you sit motionless, check yourself over, and receive a detailed briefing from Earth on things you will need to know while rolling around, trying to avoid flipping over or getting your wheels stuck in sand. Your rolling explorations will likely start in a few days. What will you find? What's out there?
Gravity on Mars is a little over one-third (38%) of that of good 'ol Earth. The equatorial gravity on Mars is 3.69 m/s² or 0.376g. Thus, if you weighed 100 lbs on Earth, you'd weigh just 37lbs on the Red Planet.
Oops, let's not forget to talk about its temperatures and atmosphere: it ranges from around –140 °C (−220 °F) during the polar winters and a pleasant daytime 20° C (70° F) or a chilling -90ºC (-130ºF) at night in the summer on the equator. The atmosphere is composed chiefly by carbon dioxide (CO2), 97%.
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