Visitim Red Planet Moa

Tufala “detective” from Earth go long next-door neiba bilong iumi long solar system, Mars. Olketa go for kasem ansa bilong samfala important kwestin abaotem history bilong datfala red planet and tu hao nao hem stap distaem.

FROM taem bifor kam, Mars hem mekem man garem enikaen tingting. Olketa laen dadi bilong iumi luksavve samting hem difren abaotem datfala braet red samting long skae wea muv fast winim olketa nara star. Pipol bilong Babylon, Greece, and Rome bifor givim nem long datfala planet followim olketa god bilong war and dae, olketa no savve datfala red color kam from iron oxide dust.

No longtaem go nomoa, taem pipol wea studyim universe start for iusim olketa strong telescope for luk long solar system, olketa lukim klia hao neiba bilong iumi wea garem red brown color hem garem olketa season, tufala end wea barava cold, and olketa narafala samting wea klosap semsem olsem Earth. Long mek-20 century, Soviet Union and United States sendem olketa space probe, or spaceship, for go studyim Mars, insaed diswan olketa spaceship wea go raonem nomoa (orbiter) and samfala wea go land (lander) long there. Then olketa sendem Mars Pathfinder, wea planti million pipol lukim long TV long July 1997.a

Distaem Mars Global Surveyor orbiter go ahed for kolektem information abaotem datfala red planet. Nomata olketa gogo hia faendemaot staka information, planti important kwestin abaotem Mars stap yet distaem.

Wea Nao Wata?

Wanfala samting wea evri kwestin hia garem nao hem wata. Olketa scientist tingse long bifor, Mars hem difren tumas from wanem olketa lukim distaem. Olketa story abaotem wanfala planet wea bifor hem garem weather wea moa hot, air wea wata stap insaed, and olketa river wea stap long planti difren ples. Bat luk olsem, datfala wata hem lus, and diswan mekem planet hia barava drae, garem staka dust, and big wind blow long hem wea mekem olketa desert bilong Earth luk gud nomoa. Wea nao datfala wata hem go? Wea nao man savve faendem wata long Mars distaem, and wanem kaen wata nao datwan? Hao nao wata hem affectim weather long Mars?

“Hem wanfala detective story,” Norman Haynes, old boss long Mars Exploration office long Jet Propulsion Laboratory bilong NASA, long Pasadena, California hem talem. “Samting wea barava hard abaotem Mars hem for faendemaot wanem nao happen long wata long there.” Olketa scientist hope bae klosap olketa kasem ansa. Samting olsem evri tu year, taem Earth and Mars klosap long each other, pipol wea duim research plan for sendem olketa robot probe for isisi faendemaot secret bilong Mars.

Wanem nao tufala niu “detective” olsem? Wanfala spaceship wea flae raonem Mars for lukluk long weather and wanfala robot chemist wea land long there for mekem olketa scientist lukluk gud andanit graon bilong Mars. Nem bilong tufala: Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander.

Go Long Mars

Olketa sendem Mars Climate Orbiter long December 11, 1998, from Kennedy Space Center, long Cape Canaveral, Florida, and hem startim naen-month gogo bilong hem for kasem Mars. Olketa designim for hem go raonem datfala planet from 400-kilometer hae, and hem bae studyim air raonem datfala planet, olketa samting antap long graon bilong hem, and tufala end bilong hem. Hem bae studyim evri samting hia for wanfala full Mars year—hem nao, 687 Earth day.

Long September 23—day wea olketa markem for datfala climate orbiter for start studyim Mars—olketa scientist long Jet Propulsion Laboratory bilong NASA sei olketa lus contact witim datfala weather orbiter. “Mifala ting datfala spaceship hem go low tumas winim wanem mifala tingim,” hem samting wea Richard Cook, project manager bilong datfala gogo hem talem. “Datwan mekem evri samting bilong datfala gogo hem lus nao.” Datfala gogo hem for studyim olketa change bilong season antap long datfala planet and givim pipol wea duim research samfala important idea abaotem history bilong weather bilong planet hia.

Olketa scientist hope no evriting hem lus. Diswan hem bikos mek-tu spaceship—Mars Polar Lander—hem gogo for Mars tu. Olketa sendem go long January 3, 1999, and olketa expectim for kasem Mars bihaen 11-fala month. Wea nao disfala lander mas landing long hem for kasem best result?

Wea for Land?

Tingim, kwestin abaotem wata nao hem barava important long disfala gogo for Mars. Wea nao gudfala ples long datfala planet for studyim wata? Pipol savve studyim weather, climate, and gogo bilong wata long Earth taem olketa markem planti thousand report wea olketa duim from olketa difren machine wea stap long planti ples. Bat, wei for studyim olketa narafala planet hem minim olketa mas chusim gud olketa important test for duim. Bikos olketa no savve landing long Mars planti taem for duim olketa study, olketa scientist mas careful taem olketa disaed wanem machine nao for sendem and wea nao for sendem.

For studyim weather long Mars, tufala end saed nao barava fitim—nomata tufala difren evribit from ples wea luk olsem flood kasem, wea Mars Pathfinder landing long hem tu year go finis. Long tufala end saed nao olketa season barava tumas nao. Olketa ting olketa dust storm savve blowim go dust long tufala end saed. Long taem bilong winter, dust hia hem kamap ice andanit long carbon dioxide and wata ice. Gogo, dust hia kamap bigfala. “Bigfala dust hia showimaot record bilong history bilong weather long [Mars],” Ralph Lorenz, bilong University bilong Arizona hem talem. Olketa wea garem savve bilivse wei for studyim disfala niu territory bae hem barava important step long wei for duim research long Mars. Hao nao olsem? Wanem nao datfala lander duim bihaen hem land?

Lukluk Andanit

Datfala lander hem wanfala machine wea luk olsem spider wea wan meter hae, hem garem thrifala leg and wanfala tu-meter-long hand wea olsem robot wea garem spoon long end bilong hem. Waka bilong hem bae start bifor hem kasem graon bilong Mars. Bifor hem kasem air wea stap raonem datfala red planet, datfala lander bae sendem aot tufala raon samting wea big olsem wanfala ball for plei basketball.

Olketa ball hia bae foldaon kwiktaem and hitim graon witim speed bilong samting olsem 700 kilometer insaed wan hour. Olketa designim olketa ball hia for pisis taem olketa hitim graon and olketa smol metal pipe insaed bae dig go wan meter insaed long graon. Wans olketa insaed graon finis tufala smol metal pipe hia bae aotem olketa smol drill and start for testim wanem nao insaed graon long Mars. First goal hem for trae for faendem eni wata wea maet stap haed olsem ice andanit long graon.

No longtaem bihaen olketa ball hitim graon, datfala lander bae land witim help bilong parachute. Lander hia garem olketa camera and sensor, and olketa designim for studyim land and weather bilong Mars. Hem bae tekem foto taem hem go for land and bihaen hem land long graon. Microphone wea stap long hem bae recordim saond bilong wind long Mars for first taem. Lander hia bae waka for samting olsem 90 day bihaen hem land.

Feeling for Faendaot

Hem tru, bae olketa scientist needim planti year for studyim and ting raonem information wea disfala gogo hem kolektem wea hem part bilong wanfala 16-year project for lanem moa samting abaotem Mars. Witim NASA, sekson wea study abaotem space wea kam from olketa kantri long Europe, Japan, and Russia olketa tu join insaed diswan. Olketa scientist hope olketa future gogo long Mars bae tekem kam bak graon from there for testim insaed olketa laboratory long Earth. Maet diswan helpem olketa for faendem ansa long kwestin abaotem wanem nao happen long weather bilong red neiba bilong iumi, Mars.

[Footnote]

[Box/Picture on page 23]

Waswe, Laef Kam From Mars?

Meteorite ALH84001—wea pipol sei hem kam from Mars—olketa faendem long Antarctica long 1984. Long August 1996 samfala pipol for duim research long Johnson Space Center bilong NASA and long Stanford University talemaot datfala stone wea big olsem potato hem garem pruv, bat wea no klia tumas, abaotem laef long Mars—olketa organic compound, mineral deposit, and fossil microbe. Samting olketa talem point go long wei wea maet laef long Earth hem start kam from Mars.

Bat, olsem evri scientist distaem agree witim, disfala stone no savve givim eni barava pruv hao laef hem kam from Mars. “Mi no ting olketa faendem eni pruv bilong olketa living samting,” William Schopf hem talem, bilong University bilong California, Los Angeles. Olsem tu, Ralph P. Harvey, bilong Case Western Reserve University, hem sei: “Nomata laef long Mars hem naes idea for planti long iumi, ALH[84001] garem barava smol pruv nomoa long datwan.”b

[Footnote]

[Box/Piksa long page 24, 25]

Foti Year Bilong Gogo Long Mars

◼ Long 1960 Soviet Union sendem olketa first probe go long Mars. Olketa fail for followim road bilong olketa.

◼ Long July 14, 1965, Mariner 4, from United States, flae pas long Mars and sendem bak long Earth olketa foto and measurement.

◼ Long 1971, Mars 3, wanfala Soviet probe, dropim wanfala capsule wea hem nao first samting for land long Mars. Mariner 9, wanfala U.S. probe, kasem Mars long datfala sem year and tekem piksa bilong klosap full planet. Mariner 9 hem tek piksa tu long tufala smol moon bilong datfala planet, Phobos and Deimos.

◼ Tufala U.S. probe, Viking 1 and Viking 2, land long Mars long 1976. Olketa probe hia waka for planti year, duim olketa bigfala experiment.

◼ Long 1988, olketa Soviet scientist sendem tufala spacecraft, Phobos 1 and Phobos 2, go long Mars. Phobos 1 fail taem hem gogo, bat Phobos 2 kasem Mars and sendem bak olketa samting wea hem faendemaot for tu-thri day.

◼ Long 1992, United States sendem go Mars Observer probe, wea fail long gogo bilong hem.

◼ Mars Pathfinder, wea karem Sojourner trak, land long Mars long July 4, 1997. Hem sendem kam bak olketa barava klia color foto bilong datfala red planet.

[Olketa piksa]

Mariner 4

Wanfala long olketa Viking lander

Phobos 2

[Piksa long page 23]

Mars Climate Orbiter

[Piksa long page 23]

Mars Polar Lander

[Piksa long page 24, 25]

Piksa bilong lukluk bilong Mars, wea Mars Pathfinder hem tekem

[Credit Line long page 22]

Page 23: Meteorite: NASA foto; long bihaen: NASA/U.S. Geological Survey; orbiter and lander: NASA/JPL/Caltech

Page 24 and 25: Lukluk bilong Mars, Mariner 4, Viking lander: NASA/JPL/Caltech; planet: NASA foto; Phobos 2: NASA/National Space Science Data Center