NASA has built amazing rovers and probes. Once the rovers find the information that they need, NASA uses that information for new technology and future space missions. NASA spends lots of time and hard work to perfect the vehicles they build. Each rover and probe has many different parts designed for their climate. MESSENGER, Curiosity, and the Lunar Rover all completed their mission, found interesting information, and all had a spinoff. On November 26, 2011 in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Curiosity was on its way to Mars. It’s goal was to assess whether Mars had ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. Curiosity arrived August 5, 2012. Workers were ecstatic. Once on Mars, Curiosity, found …show more content…
The Lunar Rover’s mission was to operate in the low gravity on the moon, explore the Moon, and allow astronauts to explore the moon without walking. The Lunar Rover was the first successful rover to land on the Moon. The astronauts collected rocks with the rover and drove it to the Elbow Crater. The Lunar Rover was a successful rover. It had completed its mission. The joystick which was created for this rover is now used for video games, wheelchairs, drones, and toys.
One probe, MESSENGER, orbited Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system. MESSENGER was launched on August 3, 2004. It’s mission was to understand Mercury. MESSENGER took panoramic photos and found evidence that there was ice on Mercury. One spinoff from this mission is a solar panel. Solar panels on the probe used the Sun’s energy to power the probe, but they are now used on houses to power electricity.
In conclusion NASA has sent many probes and rovers up to space and each with a special mission. All of these rovers have completed their missions, found very important information and they each had a spinoff. NASA has put lots of money toward their probes and rovers. They have used the knowledge for new technology. So the next time you learn about a space probe remember that NASA has spent a lot of time and work on each probe and rover, and also remember what NASA has done to help