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What’s Next for Mars Exploration?

Side Note: The colonization of Mars has always been a huge interest of mine, and I’m sure many others’. Some may think that straying away from our nomadic tendencies and becoming permanent local settlers on Earth as we are now is more appealing despite how destructive we’ve become. For one, human civilization would probably need to become less dependent on local commodities and apply a bit more faith into scientific reasoning which is purely just another way of looking at nature. But one thing is for certain, the colonization of Mars would not only make us an official space faring civilization which carries with it more knowledge of how planets work, but it would advance our way of life in space as well as back home, so any time NASA begins to have serious talks of the subject my imagination runs wild:

NASA launched its newest, largest and most sophisticated rover yet to Mars on Saturday (Nov. 26), marking an important step toward the agency’s ambitious goal of one day landing humans on the surface of the Red Planet.

The rover is also equipped with 10 different instruments that will allow it to dig, drill, and shoot a laser into rocks to examine the chemical makeup of Martian soil and dust. The mission will help scientists understand the environment and atmosphere of Mars, which will be essential for planning a manned mission to the planet.

“The goal [is] to send humans to Mars and return them back again safely — in order to return them back safely, we really need to know about the surface properties,” Doug Ming, a co-investigator for the Mars Science Laboratory, said in a news briefing Wednesday (Nov. 23) from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Curiosity will characterize Martian dust by drilling into rocks and studying their chemical properties, Ming explained. The rover will also be able to determine how pervasive the dust is on the surface of the planet.

These analyses will help address two key questions for a future manned mission: how will Mars’ global dust storms affect vehicles and hardware on the planet, and what are the possible toxic effects of Martian dust? NASA is aiming to send humans to Mars in the mid-2030s. But before then, many important questions about the planet will need to be answered.

(via ikenbot)