Tag: universe

Mars Rover: Understanding And Applications

On February 18, 2021, we had a significant breakthrough in the realm of science, “perseverance rover” is now on Mars and is alive. So congratulations to all of us on this big milestone. We as humans should be proud of that mega event and the development in science we had. Let us understand the concept of the Mars rover.

Mars Rover:

Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle that moves across the surface of the planet Mars upon arrival. 

Let us now understand the history of the Mars rover.

History Of Mars Rover: 

This is not the first mars rover on mars, there were few of them in past. Let us understand them.

On July 4, 1997, the USA spacecraft launched “Mars Pathfinder.” This was the first rover to operate on mars. This was one of the best mission to the world of science. It was responsible for many technologies like airbags in cars and obstacle avoiding robots.

Pathfinder, Image credit ; NASA

On January 25, 2004, NASA landed “Opportunity rover”. The mission was to determine whether life could ever have arisen on Mars (focusing particularly on searching for ancient water) and characterizing the climate and geology of Mars. The rover is now not active, NASA on 13th February 2019 gave an official declaration that it is inactive.

Opportunity rover, Image credit : NASA

On August 6, 2012, NASA landed “Curiosity rover”. Curiosity was about the size of a small SUV. It is 9 feet 10 inches long by 9 feet 1 inch wide and about 7 feet high. It had all the advanced features ( special cameras, spectrometers etc.,).

Curiosity rover, Image credit : NASA

The recent success is the perseverance rover. It was launched on 30 July 2020 by NASA. With the rover, they have also launched a mars helicopter. This mission is to read the geologic history and look for any clues about past alien inhabitants. It will also select and cache rock samples that a future rover will fetch and return to Earth sometime within the next decade. 

Perseverance rover, Image credit : NASA

Perseverance helicopter, Image credit : NASA

Let us now Understand the applications of it.

Applications of Mars Rover:

  • The first rover helped us understand and invent airbags in cars which helped us save millions of lives.
  •  For determining the mineralogy, texture, and structure of the Mars territory.
  • The spectrometer is for identifying promising rocks and soils for closer examination and for determining the processes of the Martian rocks. The instrument is designed to look skyward to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere.
  • For close-up investigations of the mineralogy of iron-bearing rocks and soils.
  • To help us find extraterrestrial life on other planets.
  • In understanding the universe deeply.
  • To launch more satellites and other objects to improve GPS, cellular reception and other important things. 

In conclusion, this is one of the biggest achievement in the field of science.

SIMPLE UNDERSTANDING OF THE COMPLEX UNIVERSE PART-10.

In the last article, we have learnt the concept of “Particle Physics”. In this article, lets study the concept of “Kardashev Scale.”

We as a human race has faced many disasters and calamities. Natural calamities like earthquakes, floods, volcanos etc., Therefore, it is safe to assume that our ancestors have struggled a lot.

There are also good things that are going for us. Good things like space exploration, mars rover, vaccines and medication for few deadly diseases etc. We were successful to use science for our luxury and development.

What if, there was a scale to track the development of science and the chaos caused in the world. A scale would be awesome to measure it. One of the scales is “Kardashev Scale.”

Kardashev Scale: The Kardashev scale is a  hypothetical scale for measuring a civilization’s technological advancement based on the amount of energy it has available to it. In other words, the Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement based on the amount of energy they can use.

In 1964 a Russian Astronomer named “Nikolai Kardashev” came up with this idea. He theorized that a civilization’s technical advancement runs parallel to the amount of energy that the civilization is able to harness and manipulate. Therefore, the more energy that a society can produce, the more technologically advanced they are.

The formula of the scale is K = (log10[P] – 6) / 10 

Where K = Civilization’s Kardashev.
P = Power It Uses, In Watts.

Currently we are 0.7 on the scale. By using the above formula, Kardashev defined three types of Civilizations. They are,

Type 1: If we can use the energy of the entire planet then we are on Type 1 civilization of the Kardashev Scale. In other words, we must be able to use all the energy that is produced on our home planet.

Type 2: If we can use the energy produced by a Star, then we are in Type2 civilization of the Kardashev Scale. In other words, we would be colonizing stars and other planets and start living on them.

Type 3: If we can use the energy produced by a galaxy, then we are in Type 3 civilization of the Kardashev Scale. Man, that is a lot of energy!

Kardashev gave only three types of civilization. However, using the formula given by him, scientists were able to create four more. They are.

Type 4: If we can the energy produced by the universe, then we are in Type 4 civilization of the Kardashev Scale. Just imagine, the energy produced by the entire Universe! Goosebumps isn’t it?

Type 5: If we can use the energy produced by multiverses, then we are in Type 5 civilization of the Kardashev Scale. You will have the ability to jump around all the universes and have fun!

Type 6: This civilization is outside of the realm of science. If you are able to control space , time , create universes for fun then we are in Type 6 civilization of Kardashev Scale. It’s crazy isn’t it?

Type 7: This is like omnipresent and omnipotent. You can do anything, there are no limits. Here is the only imagination is your limit to imagine. There are no boundaries.

The Kardashev Scale is one of the important theory to conceptualize the future of Science.