As a former
kid who was obsessed with stars and outer space, I was very excited to see
these articles about evidence of water being found on Mars. There has been
evidence for awhile that there are ice caps, but before there was no knowledge
about running water. Well now, water has been found in hydrated salts in four
locations. According to the New York Times article, the “waterlogged salts …
fits with the idea that they are formed by the underground flow of briny water
that wets the surface.” Evidence for running water is huge because running
water is a necessity for life forms. With this new evidence, there can be more
speculation and research about if life exists on Mars or if human beings could
one day travel to Mars and live there.
I have also always been fascinated with planetary bodies (mostly Earth but they're all pretty freakin' cool) and found this pretty fascinating. I actually talked with Ray Arvidson, one of the head scientists in charge of the rover and a professor here at the university, and in our brief discussion, he stated that the types of research now possible have increased exponentially now that water from another plantary source is, for the first time, researchable. However, he also mentioned a lack of possibilities with the current Mars Rover and its ability to discern definitively the existence of life. Beyond the scope of the conversation, he made sure I was aware, was the fact that such highly specialized machinery is not easily converted to study biology vs. geology. What I am excited to learn about in the upcoming months/years(?) is how changes or just slight modifications will be made to the Rover or whether another rover deployment with a new reenergized agenda will commence.
ReplyDelete