02-20-2020, 01:19 PM
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51544476
Exactly a year from now, a capsule will come hurtling through the atmosphere of Mars with the Americans' next big rover. If it survives the "seven minutes of terror" that describe its descent to the surface, the new robot promises a very different mission to all those that have gone before it. Although Mars 2020 looks like a simple copy of the Curiosity vehicle of 2012, its goals take a decisive turn towards answering the most fundamental of questions: is there - or has there ever been - life on the Red Planet?
Recent investigations have concentrated on characterising the "habitability" of Mars. That's to say, these prior missions asked only if past conditions were conducive to biology. Mars 2020, on the other hand, will be engaged in an explicit hunt for life's traces. Evidence for life on the early Earth always attracts a degree of scepticism, even controversy, and laboratory equipment the size of a large room is often required to back up a claim.
The rover will trundle across equatorial Jezero Crater seeking out rocks that look as though they might have been laid down in the presence of biology. The best examples will be drilled and sealed in small tubes the size of whiteboard markers. These canisters will then be placed on the surface for a later mission to pick up and take home. It's all about recognising tell-tale patterns, textures, and chemical compositions.
I think it is interesting to see what they will find on the planet and what new things they will learn about it.
How do you think people will react if a rover finds something intriguing imprinted in billions-of-years-old rock on another planet?
Exactly a year from now, a capsule will come hurtling through the atmosphere of Mars with the Americans' next big rover. If it survives the "seven minutes of terror" that describe its descent to the surface, the new robot promises a very different mission to all those that have gone before it. Although Mars 2020 looks like a simple copy of the Curiosity vehicle of 2012, its goals take a decisive turn towards answering the most fundamental of questions: is there - or has there ever been - life on the Red Planet?
Recent investigations have concentrated on characterising the "habitability" of Mars. That's to say, these prior missions asked only if past conditions were conducive to biology. Mars 2020, on the other hand, will be engaged in an explicit hunt for life's traces. Evidence for life on the early Earth always attracts a degree of scepticism, even controversy, and laboratory equipment the size of a large room is often required to back up a claim.
The rover will trundle across equatorial Jezero Crater seeking out rocks that look as though they might have been laid down in the presence of biology. The best examples will be drilled and sealed in small tubes the size of whiteboard markers. These canisters will then be placed on the surface for a later mission to pick up and take home. It's all about recognising tell-tale patterns, textures, and chemical compositions.
I think it is interesting to see what they will find on the planet and what new things they will learn about it.
How do you think people will react if a rover finds something intriguing imprinted in billions-of-years-old rock on another planet?