Exploration of the Solar System: The Moon and Mars
- Ishita Chintala
- May 30, 2022
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 3, 2022
In this blog, we’ll be talking about humanity’s endeavor to explore the solar system, specifically the moon and Mars. The Moon and Mars are the closest in proximity to Earth, therefore becoming targets for space agencies to send missions to. Some of the missions that have been sent include the Apollo, Pathfinder, and Curiosity missions. In this blog, we will be going in depth about each mission. Furthermore, it is important to note that while these are some of the missions that have been sent to the Moon and Mars, there are many more that have not been mentioned.
Apollo Missions
To give context, the Apollo Missions were named "Apollo" due to NASA’s Silverstein picking up a book centered around mythology. Silverstein was a longtime manager at NASA and previously, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He said, “Apollo riding his chariot across the sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program”, according to NASA. There were a total of 12 missions in Apollo, which are as follows: Apollo 1, Apollo 7, Apollo 8, Apollo 9, Apollo 10, Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 13, Apollo 14, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17. In between each Apollo mission was a preparation phase, to get the rockets and astronauts ready as needed. To attempt to describe each mission would take multiple paragraphs, so this blog will only focus on the mission statement of each mission up until Apollo 10. We encourage you to research the rest of the missions whenever you’re able!
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"- Neil Armstrong
Apollo 1 was unfortunately a tragedy. On January 27th, 1967, the crewed spaceflight lost three of its astronauts in flight. It was supposed to be the first crew mission to the moon, but according to NASA, it “struck on the launch pad at Cape Kennedy during a preflight test for Apollo 204.” The image on the right shows the astronauts who were aboard the Apollo 1 rocket.
On October 11th, 1968, Apollo 7 was launched into orbit. It was the first successful crew mission launched by NASA since Apollo 1, which opened the revival of human spaceflight. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spaceflight that was able to exit the low Earth orbit and land on the moon, which was launched on December 21st, 1968. The crew revolved around the moon 10 times before safely departing on Earth. Apollo 9, launched on March 3rd, 1969, was the third human spaceflight mission that was launched by a Saturn V rocket, and it was the first flight of the entirety of the Apollo spacecraft. Last but not least, Apollo 10, launched on May 18th, 1969, was the fourth crewed space mission that was launched to the moon. It was a mission to test for a moon landing in the near future.
Pathfinder
The Pathfinder mission was the first mission to launch a robotic rover on Mars. The rover that was launched during the Pathfinder mission was called "Sojourner", and it was launched on December 4th, 1996. Coincidentally (or not), Sojourner landed on July 4th, 1997 in Ares Vallis (essentially an outflow channel) on Mars. The lander and rover both, according to NASA, “carried instruments for scientific observations and to provide engineering data on the new technologies.”
The instruments the lander and Sojourner carried were an Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer, three cameras, and an atmospheric structure instrument. The Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer contributed to providing knowledge about the rocks and soil on Mars. The three cameras allowed Sojourner to take images of the surrounding area from multiple angles. Lastly, the atmospheric structure instrument, as the name might suggest, measured the Martian atmosphere as the rover descended.
Curiosity
Curiosity is a Mars rover whose purpose was to explore and find out if the red planet could ever be habitable for biological life. It was able to send back images of Mars for scientists and astronomers to study on Earth. The rover was launched on November 26th, 2011, and it still is very active, as NASA provides updates on findings from Curiosity frequently. Curiosity is also sometimes referred to as "Mars Science Laboratory" due to the fact that it conducts scientific experiments that humans cannot do, since Mars is not habitable as of the publication of this blog post.
Thank you for taking the time to reach the end of the blog! We hope you do more research in-depth regarding each mission soon. Make sure to like, share, and comment what you learned, and as always, keep gazing skywards!
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