The Mars Rover turned 1-year old on August 5, 2013. There was a video made of it's birthday celebration, they tuned his resonance to make the sound needed to play Happy Birthday to himself lol. I wrote to the NASA scientist, Florence Tan, to ask her about one certain part of the video. She wrote back and I can't wait to tell you what I learned about how the Mars Rover Curiosity does its important research right there on the Mars surface. First let's watch the video so we know what I'm talking about :)



So, I wondered, when they put the samples into the opening on top of the SAM box that's on the Rover, what happens then? Because I know from shows that I like on TV - like CSI and other science fiction type shows - that if you study trace, or any particles like that, you have to sterilize the area again or you will get bad readings the next time. If any remains at all inside the SAM box, then it will confuse the Rover's thinking next time it runs a sample, right? I asked my Mom, and she said she didn't know how it worked. She thought about it, and said, maybe it washes it out with water? But that didn't sound right because it would run off onto the planet's surface and compromise the site it was collecting data from. She said, "powerful air blasting it from the box?" I asked if we could email the woman talking in the video. She rewound the movie to the beginning and it told her name and where she worked, at Goddard Space Laboratory, name is Florence Tan. We googled her and found her NASA page, it gave her address. You have got to love it when you can write to NASA and get an email back THAT DAY! She wrote back and told me a few really interesting things about the process of collecting and analyzing samples! She said that it pyrolyzes, or burns or incinerates, the rock or sand or dirt or whatever matter it's analyzing. Pyrolyze - my new word for the day lol bazinga! xo!

And, she said that the sample that's collected is poured into one of 74 small cups inside the SAM! Again, she said that after that cup's matter is analyzed, it's then pyrolyzed and can be used again! She hopes all 74 of the cups are used many times over and over, with them pyrolyzed in-between each use. I hope so, too! I watched the Rover land on Mars with my family, we were so excited. It touched down and we went wild and so did the landing team on Earth with their fingers crossed it would arrive safely. It had kind of a crash-style landing to complete before it could send the first pictures back. I took some screen-shots during the first few days or weeks. Here's what I have from the Rover's early work:



These are the Gale Crater on the Martian surface!




Florence Tan also showed me another video about SAM on the Mars Rover Curiosity. Let's watch that one together, right now! xo!




And, Ms. Tan provided us with a link, too. To learn more about SAM and how the Rover collects data, she suggests this page, NASA - SAM, I Am!


I hope you like this information as much as I do!

Good luck, and Live Long and Prosper fellow Star Fleet Officers xo!
Love, Apache Stahlman







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