2004 in science facts for kids
The year 2004 was a really exciting time for science! Many amazing things happened, from exploring Mars to discovering new human ancestors. Scientists made big steps forward in understanding our solar system and even the universe beyond. Let's take a look at some of the biggest science stories from that year.
Contents
Discoveries and Missions
Mars Explorations
- On January 3, NASA's robotic explorer, the Spirit rover, successfully landed on the planet Mars. Its mission was to search for signs of water and past life.
- Just a few weeks later, on January 24, another NASA rover named Opportunity also landed on Mars. Both rovers were designed to explore different parts of the Red Planet.
- Early in March, NASA announced exciting news! The Opportunity rover found clear evidence that the area it landed in on Mars once had water. This was a big discovery for understanding Mars's history.
- Two days later, on March 4, the Spirit rover also found signs of water. It discovered proof in volcanic rocks on Mars, showing that water was present there a long time ago.
Space Science
- On April 20, NASA launched a special satellite called Gravity Probe B. Its job was to test Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity. This theory explains how gravity works and how massive objects like planets affect space and time.
- On September 13, Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory shared amazing images. These pictures seemed to show a planet orbiting a brown dwarf star. This star is about 230 light years away from Earth.
- On November 15, the SMART-1 space probe reached orbit around the Moon. This was a very important moment because it was the first time a space mission from Europe had orbited the Moon.
Human Ancestors
- On October 27, a new type of ancient human was discovered! Scientists Peter Brown, Michael Morwood, and their team found the remains of Homo floresiensis. This discovery helped us learn more about human history.
Important Scientists We Remember
- On March 15, we lost John Pople, a British chemist who won a Nobel Prize for his work.
- On July 3, Andriyan Nikolayev, a brave cosmonaut (a Russian astronaut), passed away.
- On July 28, Francis Crick, a brilliant scientist who helped discover the double helix structure of DNA, died.
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2004 in science Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.