About Curiosity Credits: Google
This story / article is about Curiosity The Mars Rover‌
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Facts! Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral on November 26, 2011, at 10:02 EST aboard the MSL spacecraft and successfully landed on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17 UTC The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 563,000,000 km (350,000,000 mi) journey. The rover's goals include: investigation of the Martian climate and geology; assessment of whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, including investigation of the role of water; and planetary habitability studies in preparation for future human exploration. Curiosity's design will serve as the basis for a planned Mars 2020 rover mission. In December 2012, Curiosity's two-year mission was extended indefinitely.
More Facts! In April and early May 2013, Curiosity went into an autonomous operation mode for approximately 25 days during Earth-Mars solar conjunction. During this time, the rover continued to monitor atmospheric and radiation data, but did not move on the Martian surface
objectives and goals! 1.Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds 2.Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur) 3.Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes ( biosignatures) 4.Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials 5.Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils 6.Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes 7.Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide
objectives and goals! Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic and cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons As part of its exploration, it also measured the radiation exposure in the interior of the spacecraft as it traveled to Mars, and it is continuing radiation measurements as it explores the surface of Mars. This data would be important for a future manned mission
iMportant structures Anterior cortices: Studies have observed through fMRI that both the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and anterior insular cortex (AIC) were activated in the induction of perceptual curiosity. These regions correspond to both conflict and arousal, and as such seem to reinforce certain explanatory models of curiosity that include these principals. Striatum: The striatum plays role in attention and reward anticipation, both of which are important in the induction of curiosity. Hippocampus and dentate gyrus: The hippocampus is important im memory formation and recall and therefore instrumental in determining the novelty if various stimuli. In addition, the dentate gyrus subregion of the hippocampus has been shown to be critical for regulating the spontaneous exploration of safe, novel spaces in mice. Since neither genetic nor molecular manipulation of dentate gyrus in study affected exploration or fearful or familiar spaces, it has been suggested that the dentate is somehow involved in generating or gating the underlying motivation to explore for the purpose of learning.
anterior pituitary The anterior pituitary regulates the adrenal cortex, which releases cortisol, among other regulatory chemicals. Although mostly known for it’s role in stress, cortisol may also be associated with curios or exploratory behavior. Studies have shown that monkeys that have been administrated small amounts of cortisol administration was important. Monkeys subjected to normal levels of cortiosol retained an average level of exploratory behaiver.
nucleus accuMbens The nucleus accumbens is a formation of neurons that makes up the ventral striatum and is important in reward pathway activation. As previously mentioned, the reward pathway is an integral part in the induction of curiosity. The release of dopamine in animal models has been measured in investigating neurochemical response to novel or exciting stimuli.dopamine transients, an indicator of dopamine release, were measured throughout life-stages of rats, as well as when rats presented with various stimuli.