In this week's Science Saturday, from U.S. Mars mission to UK Stonehenge, let's take a look at what's making news in the world of science.
U.S. Mars mission
NASA launched its Perseverance rover to Mars, days after China's Tianwen-1. The car-sized rover took off last Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. An Atlas 5 carrier rocket sent it on its seven-month journey to the Red Planet. Its goal is to address key questions about the potential for life on Mars. It will take Martian rock samples back to Earth for the first time. The 2.4-billion-dollar mission is the U.S. space agency's ninth trek to the planet.
Space exploration
SpaceX's Crew Dragon successfully returned NASA astronauts to Earth, from the International Space Station. Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday. With this landing, the Crew Dragon has successfully completed its first-ever passenger flight to orbit. The mission, which lasted for two months, was called Demon-2. The company is now performing a series of tests for the upcoming Starship spacecraft, which is aiming for Mars.
UK Stonehenge
Archaeologists have discovered the likely source of the GIANT sarsen stones at Stonehenge. The breakthrough discovery says the likely origin is West Woods – about 24 kilometers away from Stonehenge, close to the town of Marlborough. The monument, built by Neolithic people, is largely made from two types of stones. The smaller slabs, called bluestone, are known to have come from southwest Wales.
William English 1929-2020
The co-inventor of the computer mouse has died at age 91. William English passed away in California last month due to respiratory failure. He built the first wooden-box shaped mouse prototype in 1963, using his colleague's rough sketches and notes. But both he and his co-workers didn't gain much wealth from the ground-breaking invention, which has now become one of the most common tech devices worldwide. English was also largely credited with creating the graphical, desktop user interface system, used by almost all modern computers.
"Science Saturday" is part of CGTN's science and technology series "Tech It Out." The segment brings you the latest news about innovations and technological breakthroughs in the past two weeks from across the world.