Mars Invasion: Probing Puzzles On The Red Planet

jerel writes "This week's Science News has an article here about the ongoing search for evidence of life on Mars. Even as Mars and Earth now drift slowly apart, three envoys from Earth are racing to the Red Planet. If all goes according to plan, the European Space Agency's Mars Express will begin orbiting Mars next month, using radar to search for hidden reservoirs of water. The craft will also jettison a suitcase-size stationary lander, Beagle-2, that will look for signs of life by examining soil at and just below the surface of a region called Isidis Planitia. Then, in January, two NASA craft bearing identical rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, will touch down in regions of the planet that may once have had water coursing through them and so could have hosted primitive life."

Before it gets slashdotted...

[Kulic]

Martian Invasion
Probing lively puzzles on the Red Planet

Ron Cowen

Just 2 months ago, Mars loomed high in the sky, its ruddy countenance so close that anyone with a backyard telescope could make out the planet's white south-polar cap and a central smudge known as Syrtis Major. Not in 60,000 years had Mars and Earth been so close, and they won't be again for another 2 centuries. But even as the two planets now drift slowly apart, three envoys from Earth are racing to the Red Planet.

If all goes according to

Re:Before it gets slashdotted...

[ccpoodle]

I suspect the power of green house gasses has been seriously exaggerated by the green house warming crowd. Thus: The Equator of Mars would not be tropical (temperate perhaps) even if Mars had an atmosphere like Venus. That likely means nearly all the water would be traped in the ice caps at the poles if we terriform now. It is thought that the sun was hotter 4.6 billion years ago as a proto-sun, but that it cooled shortly after it went main sequence; likely before the bombardment ended. The last 4.5 billio

Let's just hope..

[OutRigged]

..that they don't confuse metric and standard again.

Re:Let's just hope..

[randito]

This is a British endeavor, and only the US would have this problem. The only country in the world that uses one measurement system among themselves, and another to deal with everybody else.

Re:Let's just hope..

[Anonymous Coward]

.. that the Martians won't shoot these invaders down, like they have done previously...

California's mission to teraform Mars?

[jerde]

Isn't the Governor-elect of Caleeforneea planning to send a mission to Mars? Something about turning on the big hidden alien generator to unfreeze the buried atmosphere?

I could swear I saw him talk about that on TV... I totally can't recall exactly where.

- Peter

Hmm

[Hard_Code]

I don't know about this. I have a beagle, and damn is he dumb. I throw food his way and he spends 10 minutes sniffing for it, and I finally have to show him it is just two feet away.

Jettison suitcase on Mars?

[AtariAmarok]

"The craft will also jettison a suitcase-size stationary lander"

Isn't "American Airlines" involved with this one? If so, their experiments dropping suitcases on Mars must really explain their atrocious lost-luggage record.

Mars ain't so red...

[Anonymous Coward]

Mars ain't so red... [mars-news.de]

What are the odds?

[bill_mcgonigle]

So, if we set this probe down in the middle of the sahara desert, would it figure out that there is life on Earth?

If it could take a deep core sample that would be fabulous, but I see no mention of that feature on this probe. Isn't this just searching for life on the surface of Mars? I would expect it to be mostly several feet of wind-eroded rock dust.

Re:What are the odds?

[mlush]

So, if we set this probe down in the middle of the sahara desert, would it figure out that there is life on Earth?

pretty good actually the presence of oxygen is a dead giveaway :-) :-). Seriously though there is a lot of microbial life even in the Sahara (which is actually quite wet compaired to some places esp the polar deserts)

If it could take a deep core sample that would be fabulous, (snip)

Beagle 2 has a mole [beagle2.com] to do just that!

Re:What are the odds?

[mlush]

There was some blurb about experiments in the Atacama desert on spaceflightnow.com a few days ago.

Interesting article here is the full link [spaceflightnow.com]

"In the driest part of the Atacama, we found that, if Viking had landed there instead of on Mars and done exactly the same experiments, we would also have been shut out,"

"...the team did discover a non-biological oxidative substance that appears to have reacted with the organics -- results that mimicked Viking's results."