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Man has always dreamed of exploring space. Of going to planets and stars and even the sun. Exploration is something humans have always been good at. Even before America was discovered people thought of going to the moon. They wrote stories of ships, boats and chariots flying into ,the sky. In most stories birds were said to be the power source for the propulsion of various vehicles that would fly into space. With science making progress, people started to believe in space travel. No more did it remain just fiction. Then after 13 centuries, rockets were finally invented in China, used to battle against the Mongols. This was just the start because as time passed by, technology got better. Now as we see today space exploration is among our world's greatest accomplishment. From the journey to the moon to the thrilling probe missions, every moment has amazed the world. Giant rockets lift off so often carrying courageous astronauts who accept challenging missions of space. High technology satellites blast into space to collect different kinds of data and information. Telescopes in orbit provide the power to look at celestial objects millions of light years away. More new advancements will even enable scientists to build larger space stations in space, find then elaborate colonies!
SPACE PROBES
Space shuttles can carry men to the moon, But to study about distant planets , we require the ability of robotic space probes. These machines carry cameras , sensors, radios, and other needed devices to faraway planets and moons where humans cannot reach. Probes are launched from earth at thousands of miles per hour and aimed towards their targets. After several rockets stages the probe is set on it's way to travel millions of miles. They orbit various celestial bodies and sometimes even parachute down to land and collect data about fossils, weather conditions, soil temperatures, gases ,etc with their arms, ears and eyes. Some probes are sent to look for terrestrial life forms on other planets. For the modern life of today, they have indeed been an ideal source of learning, and have provided us with great help in scientific researches.
POPULAR PROBES
· Voyager 1 was launched on August 20, 1977. Then came Voyager 2 just two weeks later. Their mission was to explore distant planets such as, Jupiter, Venus, Neptune, Pluto and perhaps further. These crafts used old fashioned equipment such as remote controlled computers, ray detectors, infrared sensors, and more; But unfortunately, during the mission their computers got out of date and had to be updated. In their adventures Voyager 1 reached Titan, Saturn's largest moon and found vital chemicals such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen etc that fulfill a few requirements of life existence in other parts of the solar system. Then it reached Jupiter and soon went into deeper space. Compared to that Voyager 2 had more success. On July 9,1979, the craft came much more closer to Jupiter and found that it had three more moons than what people thought so far. Next on August 25,1981, it passed Saturn while discovering it's 9 more moons. Also the 4 rings around the planet turned out to be at least a 100. Hoping to find more information, Voyager 2 made it's way towards Uranus and arriving there on Jan 24,1986. It found 10 new moons as well as 10 rings though less dusty than Saturn's; For that cause the rings are not visible. Planet Uranus was also detected to have a magnetic field 1/3 as strong as earth's. Voyager 2 also reached Neptune by the next few years and then headed towards Pluto.
On December'4 ,1962 , the Mariner mission was launched towards Venus. Mariner 10 was the last of the mariners. It swung past Venus in 1974 and then went to Mercury. Venus was discovered rather less interesting. NASA also launched two Pioneer crafts. One of the Pioneers went into orbit. Several smaller probes dislocated from this vehicle landing at different locations on the planet. After them other probes such as Vega and Venera have often been sent to Venus.
The Vikings were also well known probes. They were two probes sent to planet Mars in search of life. Arriving on July 20, 1976, Vikings collected data about the Martian Soil, weather, searched for water and important gases. Maps and photographs were radioed back to earth. A few months after takeoff Viking 1 and 2 came up with the same results. Negative. No life was found.
Still not giving up, scientist came up with a bright idea of building a micro-rover. And they did. Indeed it turned out to be a wonderful machine of the 20'th century . It was named Sojourner. Built with the best technology , it had every gadget to scan the Martian soil safely. It even had a totally different kind of landing manner. The rover was to be parachuted from an orbiter vehicle in a pyramid shaped lander. The lander will be covered with a strong material which would inflate like a balloon protecting the lander inside it. Then it would bounce around until it slows down. Sojourner was launched on December 4 , 1996. It arrive Mars on July 4,1997. The landing went perfectly. Then the Rover started to send out information. Through the video cameras, geologists observed that the rocks on Martian soil were all facing Northwest. They searched for fossils as well. The mission ended on November 4 , 1997. Sojourner's batteries had ran out. The adventure was thrilling for the whole world.
Perhaps in a future mission, scientists will come across Sojourner half buried in the Martian dust.
