5.Skilled Work, Without the Worker

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/science/space/mars-looks-quite-familiar-if-only-on-the-surface.html?ref=space

In the article written by Kenneth Chang, the landing of the Curiosity rover is discussed. The author focuses on the surprising pictures taken by Curiosity that were sent to NASA. The scientists were surprised because the the landscape of Mars looks strikingly similar to that of the Southwestern USA. Even John P. Grotzinger, a professor of geology at the California Institute of Technology who serves as the mission’s project scientist noted that “You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you,” he said, “and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture — a little L.A. smog coming in there.” Most of the rest of the article talks about the specifics of the landing and the ground operations. This new achievement is very exciting. President Obama congratulated the Curiosity team. “You guys are examples of American know-how and ingenuity,” he said. “It’s really an amazing accomplishment.”