tedx:

Mars Rover Curiosity takes a tour of Mars (Photo: NASA)

TEDx playlist: 4 TEDx Talks to celebrate Curiosity’s new discovery

Yesterday, NASA announced an amazing finding from its Mars Curiosity rover — evidence of conditions once suitable for life on the Red Planet.

Says NASA:

Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon — some of the key chemical ingredients for life — in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.

“A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “From what we know now, the answer is yes.”

As we all wait with baited breath for more groundbreaking (pun intended) discoveries from the world’s most powerful rover to land on Mars, celebrate this incredible discovery with 4 TEDx Talks about the Red Planet:

How we landed a car on Mars: Jordan Evans at TEDxMidAtlantic
In this talk from TEDxMidAtlantic, Jordan Evans, Engineering Development and Operations Manager for the Mars Rover Curiosity project explains what it was like to be behind the scenes as the rover landed on Mars, making sure one of the greatest achievements in the history of space exploration was a success.

Why is there water on Earth? Why not Mars?: Maria Sundin at TEDxUniversityofGothenburg
In this talk, astrophysicist Maria Sundin discusses the importance of water to supporting life on our planet — and possibly others — and provides us with a look into the surprisingly watery history of our neighbor planet, Mars, a history which could have maybe included life.

No life on Mars? No problem; we’ll bring it: Bas Lansdorp at TEDxDelft
Bas Lansdorp is the head of the Mars One project, an endeavor to establish a human settlement on the planet Mars in 2023. At TEDxDelft, he lays out the project’s plan for a manned mission to Mars, explaining the drive behind this very ambitious goal.

Live like a rocket scientist: Charles Elachi at TEDxBeirut
Charles Elachi is the director of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the outlet responsible for the Mars Science Laboratory, which launched and maintains Mars rover Curiosity. Just 100 days after Curiosity’s landing, he spoke at TEDxBeirut about how a sense of curiosity and a willingness to collaborate drive not only missions to Mars, but also all great things in life.

And a bonus — with absolutely no relation to TEDx — David Bowie’s seminal hit, “Life on Mars”:

i tried to listen to this in my art class (between the loud noises of hammerings and saws) and a girl asked me what I was listening to.. she was like, “Oh, did the rover make it to Mars?” and I proceeded to tell her that they found evidence that Mars may have once  have been habitable and she gave me the most unimpressed look ever

and i was like

NOOOOOO IT’S EXCITING IT REALLY IS!!!!!! but no one listens to the weird nerd who makes art projects all based on science