Name &&Grade &&Class& 10 Interesting Facts About Curiosity€¦ · 10 Interesting Facts About Curiosity ! 1. ... on the Periodic Table of Elements. Atoms - Atoms are the basic building

10 Interesting Facts About Curiosity !1. Curiosity’s Eyes!The MastCam is Curiosity's workhorse imaging tool. It will capture high-resolution color pictures and video of the Martian landscape, which scientists will study and laypeople will gawk at. MastCam consists of two camera systems mounted on a mast that rises above Curiosity's main body, so the instrument will have a good view of the Red Planet environment as the rover chugs through it. MastCam images will also help the mission team drive and operate Curiosity. [Photos of NASA's Curiosity Rover]

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2. A Sleuth on Mars!MAHLI will function much like a high-powered magnifying glass, allowing Earthbound scientists to get up-close looks at Martian rocks and soil. The instrument will take color pictures of features as tiny as 12.5 microns — smaller than the width of a human hair. MAHLI sits on the end of Curiosity's five-jointed, 7-foot (2.1-meter) robotic arm, which is itself a marvel of engineering. So mission scientists will be able to point their high-tech hand lens pretty much wherever they want.

Name______________      Grade_____________      Class  ______  

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3. The View From Above!MARDI, a small camera located on Curiosity's main body, will record video of the rover's descent to the Martian surface (which will be accomplished with the help of a hovering, rocket-powered sky crane).

4. Sampling Mars!SAM is the heart of Curiosity; at 83 pounds (38 kilograms), it makes up about half of the rover's science payload. SAM is actually a suite of three separate instruments — a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph and a laser spectrometer. These instruments will search for carbon-containing compounds, the building blocks of life as we know it. They will also look for other elements associated with life on Earth, such as hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen. The SAM instrument suite is located in Curiosity's main body. The rover's robotic arm will drop samples into SAM via an inlet on the rover's exterior. Some of these samples will come from the interior of rocks, powder bored out by a 2-inch (5-centimeter) drill situated at the end of the arm. None of Curiosity's predecessors could get deep into Martian rocks, so scientists are excited about the drill. "For a geologist that studies rocks, there's nothing better than getting inside," said MSL deputy project scientist Joy Crisp, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Check  Your  Science  Reading!  1.  What  is  Curiosity’s  main  goal?   A.  To  assess  Mars  for  the  ability  to  

support  life.    B.  To  use  its  laser  to  shoot  at  the  

atmosphere  C.  To  ask  ques4ons  to  the  life  forms  

on  Mars  D.  To  determine  how  old  the  “Face  

on  Mars”  is.  

2.  The  “MASTCAM”  is  a  camera  mounted  on  a  mast.  What  other  transport  on  Earth  has  a  mast?  

A.  Truck  B.  Car  C.  Train  D.  Ship  

3.  What  measurement  is  smaller  than  a  human  hair?  

A.  Millimeter  B.  Cen4meter  C.  Micron  D.  Macron  

4.  According  to  the  reading,  what  is  the  metric  equivalent  of  pounds?  

A.  Tons  B.  Ounces  C.  Kilograms  D.  Millimeters  

5.  Challenge  Ques4on:  Looking  at  the  picture  on  Page  1,  what  might  be  another  word  for  Sleuth?  

A.  A  cleaner  B.  A  detec4ve  C.  A  firefighter  D.  A.  teacher  

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5. Chemistry of Mars!CheMin will identify different types of minerals on Mars and quantify their abundance, which will help scientists better understand past. Like SAM, ChemMin has an inlet on Curiosity’s exterior to accept samples delivered by the rover’s robotic arm. The instrument will shine a fine X-ray beam through the sample, identify minerals’ crystalline structures based on how the Xrays diffract. “This is like magic to us,” Crisp told SPACE.com. X-ray diffraction is a leading diagnostic technique for Earthbound geologists she explained, but it hasn’t made it to Mars yet. So CheMin should help Curiosity provide more definitive mineral characterizations than previous Mars rovers such as Spirit and Opportunity have been able to achieve.

6. Curiosity Has a Laser (Pew, pew, pew!)!For sheer coolness, it's tough to beat ChemCam. This instrument will fire a laster at Martian rocks from up to 30 feet (9 meters) away and analyze the composition of the vaporized bits. ChemCham will thus enable Curiosity to study rocks that are out of reach of its flexible robotic arm. It will also help the mission team determine from afar whether or not they want to send the rover over to investigate a particular landform. ChemCam is composed of several different part. The laser sits on Curiosity’s mast, along with a camera and a small telescope. Three spectrographs sit in the rover’s body connected to the mast components by fiber optics. The spectrographs will analyze the light emitted by excited electrons in the vaporized samples.

Vocabulary  Victory!  

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6. Geologist means what? A.  A person who studies earth and solid materials

B.  A person who studies water vapor

C.  A person who studies clouds and weather

D.  A person who studies animals

7. The word Predecessor refers to which definition?

A.  Something that or someone who existed after

B.  Something that or someone who exited before

C.  Something that or someone who existed at the same time

D.  Something that or someone who never existed at all

8. What does the word Determine mean in the sentence “Scientists will be able to determine whether to explore further.”

A.  Applaud B.  Ask C.  Discuss D.  Decide

9. CheMin will identify different types of minerals on Mars and quantify their abundance, … in this sentence, what does abundance mean?

A.  Amount B.  Color C.  Taste D.  Sound

10. Challenge Question: What is the antonym of components?

A.  Parts B.  Pieces C.  Whole D.  Section

In  Your  Own  Words  

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The reading describes an instrument that can shine an X-ray through soil in order to figure out what elements are in the soil.

For example, what if there were water on Mars just like Earth? What might that mean to us? What if there were minerals on Mars that could help us on Earth?

Write a short story about a discovery using an X-ray where you discover with scientist!

The story will start, and you fill in the rest!

Jane and Michael went to the Liberty Science Center every summer. This year, the Science Center was conducting tests using X-rays on the rocks in the Hudson River. The day that they went, Jane and Michael discovered that the scientists found something surprising and unusual! _____________________________________________________  __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  

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7. The Search for Mars Water!DAN, located near the back of Curiosity's main body, will help the rover search for ice and water-logged minerals beneath the Martian surface. The instrument will fire beams of neutrons at the ground, then note the speed at which these particles travel when they bounce back. Hydrogen atoms tend to slow neutrons down, so an abundance of sluggish neutrons would signal underground water or ice. DAN should be able to map out water concentrations as low as 0.1 percent at depths up to 6 feet (2 m).

8. Elements of Mars!APXS, which sits at the end of Curiosity's arm, will measure the abundances of various chemical elements in Martian rocks and dirt. Curiosity will place the instrument in contact with samples of interest, and APXS will shoot out X-rays and helium nuclei. This barrage will knock electrons in the sample out of their orbits, causing a release of X-rays. Scientists will be able to identify elements based on the characteristic energies of these emitted X-rays. Spirit and Opportunity were outfitted with a previous version of APXS and used the instrument to help elucidate the prominent role water has played in shaping the Martian landscape.

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9. Radiation Alert!!The toaster-size RAD is designed specifically to help prepare for future human exploration of Mars. The instrument will measure and identify high-energy radiation of all types on the Red Planet, from fast-moving protons to gamma rays. RAD's observations will allow scientists to determine just how much radiation an astronaut would be on Mars. This information could also help researchers understand how much of a hurdle Mars’ radiation environment might have posed to the origin and evolution of the life on the Red Planet.

10. Weather on Mars!This tool, which sits partway up Curiosity's mast, is a Martian weather station. REMS will measure atmospheric pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction, air temperature, ground temperature and ultraviolet radiation. All of this information will be integrated into daily and seasonal reports, allowing scientists to get a detailed look at the Martian environment.

Cross-Curricular/Meaning and Science!

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Scientific vocabulary is sometimes difficult to follow, but it’s great to know facts! Let’s start with some basic words here, and on the next two pages, fit them into the sentences and a crossword.

Neutrons – are subatomic particles found in almost all forms of conventional matter. Neutrons are “neutral.” Meaning, they have about the same mass as protons, but are NOT electrically charged.

Hydrogen - is a naturally occurring gas that is amazingly light. Hydrogen is, in fact, the lightest gas ever found. It is the first element on the Periodic Table of Elements.

Atoms - Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter that make up everyday objects. A desk, the air, even you are made up of atoms!

Depth(s) – 1. The distance from the top or surface of something to its bottom. 2. Distance from the nearest to the farthest point of something or from the front to the back.

Chemical Elements - or an element, is a material which cannot be broken down or changed into another substance using chemical means.

Electrons – A stable subatomic particle, found in all atoms, that has a charge of negative electricity.

Emit(ted) – To produce, to discharge (such as light), to make sound.

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Continued…

Elucidate – to make clear or to explain.

Exploration -an organized trip into unfamiliar regions, especially for scientific purposes; expedition.

Observation - The act of noting and recording something such as a phenomenon, with instruments or visual sight.

Origin- The point at which something comes into existence or from which it derives or is derived.

Hurdle – An obstacle or difficulty that must be overcome

Pressure – Abbr. P Physics Force applied uniformly over a surface, measured as force per unit of area

Humidity – Dampness, especially of the air

Integrate(d) – To make (made) whole by bringing all the parts together.

Cross-Curricular/Meaning and Science!

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Stephanie  Stern  Endeavor  Fellow  

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What Is The Meaning Of All Of This??!!!Science Crossword!

Created at Discovery Education By S. Stern

In  Your  Own  Words  

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Now  you  be  the  writer!  Journalists  are  writers  that  put  ar4cles  in  newspapers,  magazines  and  online  on  websites  and  Weblogs…what  you  know  as  “blogs.”    

One  of  the  challenges  that  journalists  have,  that  students  don’t  always  have,  is  a  word  limit.  That’s  right!  Unlike  students,  writers  have  to  keep  their  ar4cles  to  a  maximum  (most  allowed)  number  of  words  in  order  to  fit  on  a  page,  or  make  a  small  space  work,  and  s4ll  be  able  to  deliver  the  who,  what,  where,  when,  why  and  how  of  a  story.    

For  this  assignment,  you  are  a  journalist  with  Kids’  Science  Scene.  NASA  has  released  informa4on  that  they  found  an  ocean  on  Mars  with  the  Curiosity  Lander  Mission.  You  have  to  use  no  more  than  75  words,  but  you  MUST  use  three  from  the  crossword  glossary.    Good  luck  !  

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