This article , On Mars Rover, Tools to Plumb a Methane Mystery discusses a S.U.V.-size rover named Curiosity that carries an instrument that can detect methane in the air, and if it does, it will unleash new excitement about the prospect of life on Mars. Based on evidence there a possibility that life could have arisen on mars before it did on earth. Because Mars is smaller than Earth, it cooled faster, and it probably would have been hospitable for life earlier. However, after a 1976 mission to Mars, soil experiments show that Mars was really most sincerely dead. NASA subsequently played down the notion of life on Mars and instead set out on a methodical campaign to explore the past geology and climate of Mars. Although Mars today looks dead, geological markings like gullies, dry lakebeds and colossal canyons point to a liquid past. Spirit and Opportunity, NASA’s last rovers found evidence of habitable environments in the past. Now, Curiosity will be able to go even further and possibly discover more building blocks of life. However, Curiosity is not going to discover life. Curiosity will not be able to detect life forms even if they are thriving in the soil. This can be very frustrating for some scientists such as Michael A Meyer, NASA’s lead scientist for Mars. Meyer says “I don’t think we’ve put down enough groundwork.” Curiosity may be the last spacecraft landing on Mars for many years. If this is true that would derail the whole search for life, extant or extinct on Mars. Dr. Mumma said. “That would be a disaster.”
The possibility that there was life on Mars before earth leads to an intriguing possibility that pieces of Mars containing microbes were blasted into space by asteroid impacts and later landed on Earth, seeding life here. Meaning, all forms of humanity could all be descendent from Mars. More discoveries by Curiosity could fuel this idea that humanity is descendent from Mars.
I found this article to be very interesting. I liked how in detail it was, but not to wordy. I think many important points were presented in this article. I like how this article makes you think about the possibility of being descendent from Mars. Overall, I think this article was very well written and very interesting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/science/space/aboard-mars-curiosity-rover-tools-to-plumb-a-methane-mystery.html?_r=1&ref=science
Caroline did a very good job summarizing the article she picked. It gave clear, concise details about the rover Curiosity as well as describing the background research about the previous missions that have gone to Mars to look for life. Also, she did a nice job on giving the point of view of leading researchers at NASA on how they feel about this mission. Finally, I believe that the negative effect of this mission was a very nice addition to the summarization of the article.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the summarization could include more detail on the exact mission of the rover Curiosity. Also, a personal opinion of the article would have been a good addition, for it would have reasoned the reader’s view
In general, I think that the best part of the article was the fact that she included information about Mars that made you think. It is very compelling to think how there might be a source of life on Mars , and how we are so close yet so far from discovering proven evidence of it.
I really enjoyed Caroline’s article review, On Mars Rover, Tooles to Plumb a Methane Mystery. First, I thought that the topic Caroline picked was very interesting. Right from the beginning of this article review, my attention was attracted and made me want to read more on this topic. Another aspect of this article review that I enjoyed was that she presented the article in a very lucid and concise way. As I was reading the article, I could tell that the general topic could be confusing if it wasn’t demonstrated in a way that simplified the article and made it an easier read, I wouldn’t have understood what was happening. I also really liked the way Caroline made sure she got the main points of the article in her review, and backed them up by using selective, powerful quotes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do believe this article review was very good, I think there are some improvements that could be made to make the review better. First, I suggest that Caroline have added in a brief summary of how Curiosity can detect the Methane mystery, by shooting something into the air, or what. This would have given some background knowledge and added even more interest to the article. I also think Caroline should have explained in more depth why Curiosity may be the last spacecraft landing on Mars for many years. This specific part was just a little confusing, and so if it had been elaborated on the reader could have a better understanding of the article.
Overall, I think Caroline did an excellent job and really chose an intriguing topic for an excellent review. I found the facts to be very interesting and the fact that scientists are still trying to send crafts to Mars and detect some signs of life, or anything!
I thought that Caroline did a great job summarizing her article. She was able to pack in a ton of information without being too wordy. I thought that the article she chose was also very interesting, and I was hooked as soon as I started reading. I also really enjoyed how Caroline included the thoughts of NASA and their idea of Curiosity’s mission. Overall, I though her summary was intriguing and that she did a great job presenting the article.
ReplyDeleteDespite her great detail and summarization, Caroline didn’t really give her own opinion on the article. I though that the review would’ve been even better if she let us in on what she thought. I though Caroline also could’ve talked more about what Curiosity’s mission was. I though that it was interesting how she included the history of mars and what people have discovered over the years, but I never was able to understand the point of the mission.
Overall, I think that Caroline did a great job. I loved the article she picked because it was fascinating and very attention grabbing. I found it really interesting that there could have been life on Mars before the Earth showed life. This review really got me interested in learning more about the topic and I look forward to hearing more information on the findings of Curiosity.
I thought Caroline’s article review was detailed but not too long when discussing the rovers and the possibility of life on Mars. I liked how she included the possibility of life coming from Mars to Earth, which I think is something people do not normally think about. Finally, I thought that how dates were used to put things in perspective for the reader of this particular article review.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I thought could have been improved about this article review was that not a lot of background information was given. I thought she could have expanded on the Curiosity rover and given more information about it. Another thing I thought could have been improved was that no dates other than the one from 1976 were given. I think if we could have known when Curiosity was launched and when other details were discovered we could relate to it better.
Finally something from this article that caught my eye was that life on Earth could have originated on Mars, as I stated before I don’t think that’s something people would normally even consider as a possibility, when people think about life on Mars.
After reading the article by Caroline about a rover named Curiosity that was sent to Mars to detect methane in the air, I found that it was interesting that there could have been life on Mars a long time ago. Caroline did a good job at explaining that there is probably no chance that there is life on Mars because soil tests from a 1976 mission have revealed it is dead, however since Mars is smaller and cooled faster than the Earth, it could have supported life ling ago. She then further explained the reasons why there could have been life on Mars. Mars’ colossal landmarks, such as its canyons and dry lakebeds points to the likely hood that a liquid had carved these geographic features. Also past rovers have found evidence of there being habitable life on Mars in the past. Caroline also talked about the possibility that if Mars contained life before Earth, an asteroid from Mars could have landed microbes on Earth, starting life on Earth.
ReplyDeleteCaroline could have explained how methane is an indicator of life on Mars and she could have described what scientists thought the past hospitable environments on Mars were life.
I thought this article was interesting because it really described the reasons why people believe there probably was life on Mars before there was life on Earth. If there was life on Mars before there was life on Earth, maybe that life was intelligent like humans and maybe they developed like us. Maybe they over exploited their resources like us and it led to what Mars is today, a lifeless desert planet, or maybe Mars came to the state it is in today naturally.
Caroline did an excellent job in summarizing this article. She gave clear and concise facts about the rover Curiosity. I was curious about how she described the background research about the previous missions that had gone to Mars to look for life. She also did a very excellent job on giving the point of view of the leading researchers at NASA, on how they feel about this mission. Finally, I also believe that the way that she added the negative facts about the mission added a nice touch to the overall review.
ReplyDeleteDespite some of the great ways that she wrote this review, there were some faults. The summarization could have included more in depth detail on the exact mission of the rover Curiosity. I also believe that a personal opinion of the article would have been a good addition.
In general, I think that the best part of the article was the fact that she included information about Mars that made you think. It is very compelling to think how there might be a source of life on Mars , and how we are so close yet so far from discovering proven evidence of it.
I Thought Caroline did a great job her article review On Mars Rover, Tools to Plumb a Methane Mystery. I thought she did a great job of summarizing the article. I really liked the part when she was talking about the1976 mar mission. It had a lot of great details into it. The summary was very easy to read and the words flowed nicely. I also really like how Caroline included information about the mar rover Curiosity and that she included the scientist and their thought about the Rover.
ReplyDeleteCaroline did a great job on her article review, but there are some places were she could improve on. I thought Caroline should have talked more about the rover Curiosity and it’s mission. She also could have talked more about the methane and how it can be detected in the air.
Overall, I thought Caroline did a great job on this article. There were many parts that I found interesting. I thought it was cool to see that there could have been life on Mars. I also found it to be interesting that we can assume that there could have been life on Mars from detecting methane. This article was a very interesting to read.