In Brief
- After decades of focusing on Mars's geology and hydrology, planetary scientists now plan to search more specifically for signs the planet ever had the conditions to sustain life.
- The Curiosity rover will scour Gale Crater for organic compounds and attempt to settle a decades-old debate over whether these compounds can survive on the Martian surface.
- The rover will set several records: largest capsule to enter a planetary atmosphere; first use of a helicopter-style sky crane to land a craft; and most sophisticated automated chemical lab ever sent to another planet.
More In This Article
All science begins in a star trek mode: go where no one has gone before and discover new things without knowing in advance what they might be. As researchers complete their initial surveys and accumulate a long list of questions, they shift to a Sherlock Holmes mode: formulate specific hypotheses and develop ways to test them. The exploration of Mars is now about to make this transition. Orbiters have made global maps of geographic features and composition, and landers have pieced together the broad outlines of the planet's geologic history. It is time to get more sophisticated.
Our team has built the Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity rover, on the hypothesis that Mars was once a habitable planet. The rover carries an analytic laboratory to test that hypothesis and find out what happened to the early clement environment we believe the planet had. Loosely defined, a habitable environment has water, energy and carbon. Past missions have focused on the first requirement and confirmed that Mars had—and occasionally still has—liquid water [see “The Red Planet's Watery Past,” by Jim Bell; Scientific American, December 2006]. Those missions have also seen hints of geochemical gradients that would provide energy for metabolism. But none has seen carbon in a form potentially suitable for life.
Already a Digital subscriber? Sign-in Now
If your institution has site license access, enter here.
See what we're tweeting about
2 Comments
Add CommentJust watched the series called "The Martian Chronicles" again.(1979) I remember watching it as a teenager and enjoyed it so much that I ordered it. The Martians that were on the planet wound up being killed by chicken pox brought by the first expedition. The first 2 expeditions were killed by the Martians and the third expedition wound up killing the last Martian. I hope nothing like that happens, but since we are an invading species in more ways than one, I have little hope for mankind seeing what we've done to our own planet. What the hell, we can live in a Star Trek -like fantasy forever! At 63, maybe my atoms will be part of a Martian colony in the future, or just return to the Sun.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think Mars has been so irradiated in the past, and dessicated over time that;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe 'life pre courser' or very early micro-forms of life did not get the chance to develop.
May be we will find these ancient life signatures.
I for one, hope that we will.
Marg.