Vatican Radio REPORT The
Mars science rover Curiosity landed on the Martian surface Monday morning -
shortly after 0530 GMT - to begin a two-year mission seeking evidence the Red
Planet once hosted ingredients for life. Mission controllers at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California received signals relayed by a
Martian orbiter confirming that the rover had survived a make-or-break descent
and landing attempt to touch down as planned inside a vast impact
crater.The Curiosity rover is the first fully-fledged mobile science laboratory to be landed on the surface of the planet Mars. Curiosity is designed to hunt for soil-based signatures of life and send back data to prepare for a future human mission. The head of the Vatican Observatory, Fr. José Gabriel Funes, SJ told Vatican Radio that he welcomes the achievement. “I think everybody should be happy with the success of [the start of] this mission,” he said, adding, “we now have to wait for results, to see if we can learn more about Mars and the possibility of organic elements on the surface of Mars.”
Asked whether Catholics and believers in general have anything to fear - whether from from the search for extraterrestrial life in particular or from scientific exploration generally, Fr. Funes SJ responded, “No, of course not – we are not afraid of science, we are not afraid of new results, new discoveries.” The Director of the Vatican Observatory went on to explain that the Church is deeply committed to scientific research. “That’s the reason why the [Holy See] has an observatory,” he said. “Whatever the truth might be, we are open to new results, once they are confirmed by the scientific community.”
SHARED FROM RADIO VATICANA
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