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Posts Tagged: Mars

Checking In With The Curiosity Rover

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Using a camera on its arm, the Curiosity rover took a break from its Mars excursion to snap a self-portrait.

Maggie Koerth-Baker documents the picture and explores how time passes on Earth versus how it passes on Mars, for Boing BoingShe explains that the Martian equivalent to an Earth day is a “Sol,” and is titled so because a day on Mars is slightly longer:

“What really stuck out to me, though, was the use of  ’Sol 32′.

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A History of Mars Exploration

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Last night, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars, beginning its year long exploration of the planet.

The Guardian has compiled a short history of Mars musing, which highlights scientists’ fascination with the planet. Since their first sightings in the 17th century, scientists argued about the planet’s capability for sustaining life:

“Lowell eventually ‘saw’ and published maps of not only canals but also vastly thick lines of cultivated vegetation, oases and cities, standing out against ‘one vast Sahara’.

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