Curiosity Curiosity was the biggest, smartest, strongest rover of its kind. The rover was built at JPL or Jet Propulsion Laboratories. The entire project began after they launched Spirit and Opportunity. The 2 rovers were given a mission to go look for signs of life. After many weeks of deliberation and construction , they finally were ready for the launch. 7 days later, it was launch time and preparations were taking place. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, LIFTOFF!!!!!!” The roaring of the rocket came and the fire was blazing and the rocket flew up into the sky, faster, faster and soon that rocket was just speck and soon was gone. 7 months had passed and a transmission from Spirit came through and everyone was preparing for the worst , waiting for the transmission. Finally, after many seconds came the moment of truth came. “Spirit has landed”. The crowd cheered and threw their hats into the air. Spirit had landed and it was one of the very few rovers that had made it. Now it was time to send Opportunity. Just like Spirit, the rockets roared, the fire blazed, and the rocket burst into the air. Dreams had come true, hats floated threw the air, and the second rover had just been reported to have landed on Mars with Spirit. But Opportunity was lucky. Some would say it was extremely lucky, some might even say it was God. Though Spirit had landed it had landed, it had landed in a very harsh condition on Mars. Opportunity however, had landed on the other side of the planet in a good spot were it wasn’t so harsh. Both rovers lasted so many years. They were only planned to last for 3 months, 3 weeks, and 3 days, 3 days, 3 minutes, 3 seconds on Mars. But they actually lasted over 10 years. Now though, Spirit has died due to the extremely harsh condition. Opportunity is still in working condition so we can still study Mars for a while and that is why Curiosity was sent. To go find if life can be on Mars for a rover and human habitation.
Curiosity was definitely going to have to prove itself to be better than the other 2 rovers so it needed to improve itself by a lot. Scientists spent hours working and brainstorming how this rover could be better . They took off programs and tools they didn’t need to have and added the more modern, lightweight materials that could work much more efficiently and would support the rover’s capacity. Finally, the rover was done but the challenging part came. Building the parachute. The parachute was the main part of the rover’s mission to be able to safely land on Mars. The scientists tried many types of parachutes and all of them failed until they made a parachute with thicker material and that was able to stand the downward fall . Lastly but not leastly , the safety pad. After much deliberation and testing they fixed it. Curiosity was ready for the launch which was only 7 weeks away. It was launch day and the scientists carefully placed Curiosity is the rocket. The rocket lifted off and it launched off. Scientists predicted and calculated that it would land on Mars in 7 months. After 7 months, They received a signal and saw that Curiosity and had landed. Everyone cheered. Now scientists anywhere can use Curiosity to help them learn more about Mars and you can thank those smart scientists for that. Also, whenever you see Mars, say hi because when you say that hi, you know that Curiosity is up there. The ultimate rover, Curiosity.
By Jason J.