Sentinel Watch November 5, 2012 Issue

Rocket science and Christian Science

Mary Alice Rose—Brookeville, Maryland

Richard Parry

The newest Mars rover, Curiosity, landed successfully on the red planet in August. I watched with joy the celebrations of the engineers and scientists responsible for this mission when Curiosity sent its first message to Earth following the landing. That message came after the so-called “seven minutes of terror,” a succession of complex maneuvers with thrusters, parachutes, drop lines, and popping parts that would have made Rube Goldberg sit up and take notice.

That wasn’t the mission’s first success—far from it! The work on Curiosity began over eight years ago, and the landing was the final stage of a flawless eight-and-a-half-month journey from Earth. The landing was also the beginning of Curiosity’s two-year mission of collecting and analyzing samples from the Martian terrain to determine if Mars ever supported life.

As interesting as that goal may be, the aspect I find most riveting about projects like this is what they reveal about the human spirit—about what can be accomplished when one or more people have a vision of what is possible and then bring that vision to fruition. The scientific discoveries that follow are the reward for a job well done.

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