Science Assessment
NASA Mar's exploration rover and Christiaan Huygens
NASA Mars exploration rovers-post 1900's
June 10th 2003 Spirit was launched and landed on 4th January 2004
Oppotunity was lanched on July 7th 2003 and landed on June 25th 2004
Spirit and Oppotunity both travelled to the planet Mars by NASA to solve the mystery of there once being water on Mars. They were originally designed for a 90's solo mission. The rovers were both posted on opposite sides of mars to cover more ground. Both rovers were part of NASAs mars exploration program.
Technolog that was used
Pan-cam-to determine the mineralogy texture and structure
miricroscofic imager-it is used for collecting closer images of soil and rocks
Magnets-used to collect and analyse magnetic particles
particle x-ray spectrometer-analyses chemical composition of lunar soil
contibution to our knowledge
Christiaan Huygens
Christiaan Huygens-Pre 1900's
In 1647 Together with his brother Constantijn, Christiaan applied himself to the manufacture of telescopes, and soon after developed a theory of the telescope. Huygens discovered the law of refraction to derive the focal distance of lenses. He also realised how to optimise his telescopes by using a new way of grinding and polishing the lenses.In 1655, he pointed one of his new telescopes towards Saturn with the intention of studying its rings. But he was very surprised to see that, besides the rings, the planet also had a large moon, now known as Titan.
Interested in the measurement of time, Huygens discovered the pendulum could be a regulator of clocks. He became one of the founding members of the Acadèmie Royale des Sciences in 1666, publishing his work Horologium Oscillatorium In 1673. He later died in 1695.
Technology Used
Telescope-To closely study the planets and stars