Astronomers celebrate out of this world achievement
One year on from the successful landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, astronomers at the Parkes Observatory are celebrating a remarkable year of space exploration.
NASA described it as 'seven minutes of terror'.
For seven crucial minutes, scientists and space-lovers around the world collectively held their breath one year ago as the Curiosity rover hurtled towards Mars- not sure if it would survive or not.
But soon enough, rapturous applause and cheering washed over the globe as images were beamed back to Earth showing a successful landing.
Dr John Sarkissian is an Operations Scientist at the Parkes Observatory, and explains the role the Central West's dish played in the landing.
"Parkes was required as a backup to the big NASA tracking station at Tidbinbilla near Canberra.
"Essentially they only needed us for the seven minutes of what NASA referred to as the EDL- entry, descent and landing," he says.
Dr Sarkissian says being involved in the landing was a stressful but exhilarating experience.
"The pressure was intense, especially for our end.
"We were only backing up the stations at Tidbinbilla, but nonetheless we gave a commitment that we were going to do it and we really wanted everything to work," he says.
"We spent a year thinking about what could possibly go wrong, and even on the day I was thinking, 'have we missed anything?', and then when everything came together so beautifully, I was on a high for a long time.
"To see the results that are coming in- to see this little rover on the surface of Mars, it could've very easily failed, but it didn't."
Since its landing, Curiosity has sent around 70 000 high-definition images of the Mars surface back to Earth.
Dr Sarkissian says the rover has achieved a lot in a year.
After landing in a crater with a 154km diameter, Curiosity has travelled almost two kilometres.
Its goal is to ascend a six kilometre mountain- a feat which could take years.
"What they're hoping to do is as it's climbing the mountain find evidence of life- organic material.
"Of course the holy grail is to find evidence of life," Dr Sarkissian says.
Reflecting on a year of discovery and exploration, Dr Sarkissian says he's excited about the future findings Curiosity is expected to make.
"As long as it doesn't fall off the edge of a cliff, it should hopefully navigate it's way slowly and gingerly up the mountain," he says.
"When I've seen Mars in the sky in the last year or so, I've thought, 'God we actually helped that rover on Mars'.
"It's a very satisfying feeling."
For the latest images from the Curiosity rover, visit this link.
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