Ahmed Alouddi
NYT Science Section & Response
The Article “China’s Mars Mission Begins Orbit of the Red Planet” by Michael Roston talks about China’s first step of landing a rover on Mars. They successfully put a spacecraft called the “Tianwen-1” that orbits around Mars taking advantage of the planet’s rotation when Earth and Mars were at a close distance from each other. Spaceflight has a history of failed voyages to Mars, including the Chinese mission in 2011 that didn’t get past Earth’s orbit. The Tianwen-1 spacecraft carries a rover and a lander. They expect to land on Mars later on in may after hoping to find an easy route to Mars that will allow the rover to land with the least difficulty. They plan to search Utopia Planitia, a large basin in the northern hemisphere to understand the ice for future human colonists. NASA has been able to land more than one rover on Mars. China has been able to send the Change-5 spacecraft to the moon and back, bringing lunar samples for scientists to study. The first robotic probe to arrive on Mars is Hope, an orbiter made by the United Arab Emirates’ emerging space agency. A robotic rover created by NASA will also be arriving on Mars. There are many rovers created by different agencies and countries, but each rover has different scientific instruments and missions on Mars. NASA is also planning on sending a helicopter to Mars to test the atmosphere.
Response: I agree with the article many things in space are unknown to us and as technology advances and our knowledge of the universe and planets expands we will be able to expand humanity to different parts of the universe or planets. There could be many things that can help humanity that we don’t know about. Through the exploration of other planets, humans are capable of living on other planets and finding out what the universe holds, China was able to bring lunar samples, which are one step towards humanity’s exploration of the planet.
The next Article “ Missing: One Black Hole With 10 Billion Solar Masses” by Dennis Overbye talks about the stars and galaxies in space. It has been found that at the center of each galaxy there is a black hole which is equivalent to millions or billions of suns. The bigger the galaxy, the more massive the black hole at its center. Normally, there is gathered light at the center of a galaxy which is caused by the gravity of the black hole. A cloud of stars 20,000 light-years across did not have the black hole at its center and the gathered light was underneath the center. This was the first time they have seen a galaxy without a black hole. This galaxy is called Abell 2261, the black hole should be 10 billion solar masses compared to the Milky Way galaxy which is only about 4 million solar masses. There were many possibilities of why the black hole has disappeared from the center of the galaxy, such as running out of anything to eat, staying silent or the black hole was thrown out of the galaxy. Black holes are so dense that light can’t escape. There was a discovery by three astronomers on how the black holes would alter the galaxies they inhabit such as pushing the stars out of the center. After measuring the knots of the galaxy there wasn’t an indication that the black hole is there or not. The astronomers are waiting for the James Webb Space Telescope, which is a newer and more advanced version of the Hubble telescope. With the James Webb Space Telescope, they will be able to see a better view of the galaxy and determine the solution of the black hole disappearance.
Response: I agree with what the article says because it is better to understand the universe and how it works because we are only one planet in one of the millions and millions of galaxies. We do not know what black holes are truly capable of and what is inside the hole. The universe is vast and with technology that advances every day, it will allow us to study the universe in-depth and understand how the universe works.
