NASA’s most high-stakes, ambitious planetary mission in decades is scheduled to launch this week with a goal out of science fiction: to learn whether Mars was, or ever could be, home to extraterrestrial life.
If the unmanned Mars Science Laboratory lifts off and travels a 354-million-mile path to Mars, it will lower to the surface a sedan-size rover called Curiosity, which has the potential to change our understanding of the cosmos.
The $2.5 billion mission comes at a crucial time for NASA. The agency faces intense scrutiny as it seeks a post-space-shuttle identity.
Furthermore, NASA is under great pressure to justify its spending. With the project 30 percent over budget and two years late, much rides on its outcome. A failure would embolden those who argue that the country can’t afford NASA.
A success could possibly lead the way to further exploration and a push to send astronauts to the planet.
“With this mission, we really enter the modern era of astrobiology, the search for life beyond Earth,” said James Green, NASA’s director of planetary sciences. “And we have the technology and know-how to make some extraordinary discoveries.”
While the agency’s past six Mars missions have succeeded, flying to our nearest planetary neighbor remains inherently difficult. Overall, more than two-thirds of the 43 Mars missions — including flybys, orbiters and landers — attempted by space agencies around the world have failed.
In addition, NASA is attempting something it has never done in the science-lab mission: It will use a new multistage landing system to lower the 1-ton rover on a tether that some are likening to a “sky crane.” If it succeeds, the system is expected to be the prototype for rover landings on Mars and elsewhere.
The window to launch opens Friday and lasts about three weeks. If all goes according to plan, the spaceship will get to Mars in August.
Curiosity will be looking for evidence that water once ran on or near the surface in what is now the central Gale Crater mountain. “Follow the water” has long been NASA’s mantra for Mars exploration because liquid water is thought to be necessary (though not sufficient) for life.
One of the primary goals, however, is to go beyond “follow the water” to the question of “habitability.” Scientists want to search for signs other than the ancient presence of water to assess whether Mars does, or did, support biology.
The program
The modern food-stamp program was created in 1977 to help low-income families. Benefits are loaded onto plastic debit cards that can be redeemed only at authorized stores.
