Life on Mars…Maybe
A sample pulled from Mars just last month has been thoroughly examined by the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, and earlier today scientists declared that they have finally found solid evidence that Mars could have once sustained life.
From mission lead scientist John Grotzinger of Caltech:
“We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and is so supportive of life that probably if this water was around and you had been on the planet, you would have been able to drink it.”
Read more via Science Now.
Photos: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/MSSS
Do you have what it takes to be a Martian colonist?
From the Hero Complex blog:
Mars One has announced plans to establish a colony on Mars by 2023 and they’re about to begin looking for prospective Martian pioneers.
While the requirements for NASA’s astronaut program are demanding, assuring only the finest and fittest of humans will ever make it into space, Mars One is casting a wide net. Their requirements are resiliency, adaptability, curiosity, ability to trust, creativity and resourcefulness.
What about the ability to fly a spaceship or solve unforeseen, unimaginable problems being one of the first humans on an alien planet? Those, evidently, are skills that one picks up with time.
Oh, and one more thing. It’s a one-way trip.
New mission to Red Planet gets green light: JPL’s InSight lander will explore how Mars and other rocky planets were formed in the early days of the solar system.
(Fun fact: InSight is short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport.)
Photo: An artist’s rendering shows the proposed InSight mission to Mars. The lander would measure seismic and tidal activity to study how rocky planets formed. Credit: NASA
NASA unveiled a new Mars panorama, taken by the rover Opportunity during its fifth winter on the Red Planet.
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State University
Will this Red Planet rover send groundbreaking data over? The Mars Science Laboratory − nicknamed Curiosity − was developed at JPL and will be the fourth rover to traverse the planet’s harsh terrain. But unlike the earlier Martian vehicles, Curiosity will do more than look for evidence of water.
Image: This artist concept shows NASA’s Curiosity rover, a mobile robot for investigating Mars’ past or present ability to sustain microbial life. Credit: NASA
