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why curiosity matters presented by

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science at nasa

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adam stelzner doesn't sound much like an

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ordinary engineer

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for instance when we asked him if he

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would talk about curiosity and explain

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why the mars rover matters to ordinary

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people the former rock and roller

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responded i'm totally down with that

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he really is down with that

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stelzner is the nasa engineer who helped

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take the country's new curiosity rover

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to the surface of mars with moves and

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flair even evel knievel would envy

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steltzer begins i'm so thankful to clara

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ma for suggesting the name curiosity it

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embodies a fundamental attribute that

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defines us as humans

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why do we explore it's our nature he

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says

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human curiosity is why you and i can

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talk across the country by phone it's

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why i'm sitting 60 feet above the ground

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in a building made of alloys and other

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high-tech composite materials we

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dominate this planet because we wonder

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what's around the next corner

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when people ask steltner is the new

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rover worth two and a half billion

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dollars he has a compelling answer

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it's not two and a half billion dollars

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we stuffed in a trunk and blew into

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space

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it's thousands of high-tech jobs spread

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over 37 states

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it's honing and developing our skills in

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science

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engineering and math

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he notes that the us has slipped to 14th

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in science education and 18th in math

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in a world where we're competing for

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economic prosperity with nations 1-13

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this mission is an investment in

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high-tech jobs and inspiring the youth

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of our country and stepping up rung by

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rung towards first place

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it's the best stimulus you could imagine

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okay curiosity matters but does it

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matter more than rock and roll

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stelzner played guitar in a rock band

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for years so he has the chops to answer

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this question too

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in some sense exploration and music are

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both art forms he says

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they're both expressions of our humanity

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but exploration can surprise us more or

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at least differently than music can

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music can surprise us only about what we

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find in ourselves

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exploration surprises us with what we

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learn of ourselves and of the universe

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steltzner says music led him to

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exploration

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during high school he played in a rock

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band

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one night driving home from a gig he

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noticed that the constellation orion was

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in a different place than it had been

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before

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but why

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i hadn't paid attention during high

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school classes at all so i didn't know

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his curiosity made him decide to take an

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astronomy class

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first though astronomy had prerequisites

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such as elementary algebra and

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conceptual physics

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he took them all

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i basically redid my high school

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education at the community college

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the rest which includes a bachelor's

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degree from uc davis a master's degree

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from caltech a job at jpl and a

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daredevil landing on mars is history

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after the glory of the curiosity landing

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fades what will this explorer do next

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our solar system offers us grand

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challenges says stelsner

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i'd like to see a mars sample return

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i'd like to land on the surface of

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europa the most likely place in the

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solar system for life

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and third i'd like to float a boat on

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the methane lakes of titan

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the solar system is calling out to us he

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says the wind's at our back it's time to

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explore

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we're totally down with that