Ellie Briskin February 10, 2013
Earth Science C Even Mrs. McClellan
“Mars Rover Marks an Unexpected Anniversary With a Mysterious Discovery”
Chang, Kenneth. "Mars Rover Marks an Unexpected Anniversary With a Mysterious Discovery." Nytimes.com. New York TImes, 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/science/space/mars-rover-marks-an-unexpected-anniversary-with-a-mysterious-discovery.html?ref=space&_r=0>.
On January 23, NASA celebrated the astounding 10th anniversary of the Opportunity Mars rover. The fact that it is still even functional today is a shock to all, for it was built to only last three months. Scientists predicted that after this time, too much dust would have accumulated on the solar panels and the batteries would die. But thankfully, the planet’s strong winds have been able to blow away this dust, leaving Opportunity able to operate. Not only is it just operating: A few weeks ago, it discovered a rock that wasn’t in the same location just two weeks prior. Most researchers attribute this seemingly spontaneous materialization to the rover’s lame wheel accidentally flicking it out of the ground, but what’s more interesting is the rock’s composition. It’s high in sulfur, magnesium, and manganese, and appears white on the outside and red on the inside. This is unusual, considering Mars’ crust is made of basalt and iron oxide. Scientists are unsure how it got there, but toy with the idea that the rock could be a vestige from an asteroid hit. Dr. Squyres, principal investigator of Opportunity, accurately describes the rover as telling “an ongoing story of discovery” of Mars. Each new development opens up more and more questions pertaining to the mysterious red planet, such as the rover’s recent find of a clay mineral known as iron smectite. To most this may seem insignificant, but geologists know this mineral only forms in environments with water, giving us a taste of a much different Mars thousands of years ago. The Opportunity rover has miraculously driven almost 24 miles further than was predicted, and the 170,000 pictures it has taken is a gift to scientists everywhere. But considering it can only fight off Mars’ conditions for so long, and as the project currently costs 14 million dollars each year to finance, it’s quite possible that this anniversary is the rover’s last.
Mars, Opportunity, and its discoveries are relevant to not just serious scientists and researchers, but to the general public as well. If the rover does indeed find signs of life on Mars, that means there could be a whole other species for humans to communicate with. Not only that, but we could work to colonize on Mars if we knew it was habitable. Knowledge of other life systems other than ours would forever change life as we know it; we would no longer be alone in our solar system. And second, NASA, like all other government projects, is funded by the US government, ergo paid for by taxpayers. The population has to decide whether or not they want their money going toward the Opportunity project, or something else entirely. To make this decision, we need to know what kind of findings the rover is bringing to the scientific realm, and weigh the pros with the economic cons. Either way, knowledge of Mars’ developments is more than relevant to the human race.
Although the article was interesting and informative, it could also be very confusing at times. The author jumped around from topic to topic in a nonsensical way, making it hard to follow. There were few transitions between ideas, leaving the reading wondering how, if at all, the thoughts are connected. Plus, as the author was obviously well versed in astronomy, he sometimes left out key facts about Mars, probably assuming it was part of the reader’s prior knowledge. This was not always the case, most notably when the author discussed the rock’s chemical composition. Even though he said the rock’s composition and noted it as “unusual”, he took no steps as to explaining why. I had to research the composition of Mars on my own to understand why the presence of sulfur, magnesium, and manganese caused such a shock. Despite these shortcomings, the introduction’s distinct clarity gave the reader a strong foundation before reading the details, so the reader could infer most of the missing information moving forward. The picture was also very assistive in visualizing the situation as scientists would see directly from Opportunity’s photographs. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article, for I’m very interested in the realm of outer space, but wish it was structured in a more comprehensible way.
I thought your report was really well written and had well developed paragraphs. I thought the summary was well put especially if the article was complex and difficult to read. I thought that it was thoughtful that you spent your own time to do further research on Mars to have a better understanding of the article. Your extra time to do research on Mars paid off because the summary was completely understandable for the reader. I also think that you did a great job in pulling the order of the article to explain it to the reader because I could fully understand what you were trying to say. Overall, you did a terrific job in explaining the complex article. Also, I thought that your points for how this article was relevant was factual and applicable to today’s society and towards the USA’s economic issues on the matter of funding NASA. I thought that this article was relevant and interesting because I had no idea that the rover was still on Mars and continuing to discover new information on the planet. I would recommend for your next current event to perhaps have two separate paragraphs for the summary so it wouldn't be such a large paragraph filled with all the ideas of the article.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Dara's praise and suggestion!
ReplyDeleteFascinating stuff! What do you think Ellie? Alien rock throwers? Asteroid impact? Or did Opportunity just kick up the rock as it was roving around?
I thought this current event was really well written. Great job Ellie! It was great how well your article flowed, and it made it easier for a student like me to read and understand. I also liked how you did a nice job of making a good connection to how this is relevant to people; I agree that if I was paying taxes, I would want to know how and where my money was being spent. And I liked how in your first paragraph, you set the tone nicely by giving a lot of background info and informing the reader of what was about to be discussed.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I learned from your report was that Opportunity was only supposed to last three months, but instead lasted ten years. That's insane! I had no idea, and that must be a great asset for scientists everywhere, to have a probe be sending important data for over a decade. I also did not realize that it cost 14 million dollars a year to finance this rover. That's a lot of money, and there might be a better use for it than Mars exploration.
The one thing that I think you could improve on in this current event is your relevancy paragraph. You say how if we found life, there could be a whole other species to communicate with. Then you go off on another implication that Mars discoveries could have on us. I think that you could have spent some more time developing your idea about how the finding of life on Mars could change affect us, because in reality, the finding of life on intelligent life on Mars would be one of the greatest discoveries of all time. Otherwise, I thought this was a great current event that was well written and informative. Awesome work.
I thought that this current event report was really well written. It flowed nicely and the paragraphs were well developed too. The summary was especially great because it was easy to understand. While the article was confusing and hard to understand, your report was just the opposite: clear and comprehensible. The connections you made about the article’s relevance were on point because you chose something that makes sense to us as citizens. I learned a lot from this report, but one thing that was just amazing to me was that Opportunity was only intended to last three months, but actually has lasted for ten years. It’s remarkable that it has outlived its predicted life span and the general idea that we were able to put something on another planet to transmit data to us is simply aweing. After reading your report, I only have one criticism. I think it would have been better if in your relevancy paragraph you went more deeply into the connections you made about the possibility of life on Mars. The connections were insightful and well-thought out, so if you went further into them, it would be and even better report. Great job!
ReplyDelete