Wednesday, August 15, 2012

What's happening on Mars?


This is an artist's conception of Curiosity on Mars, and I've included it because there aren't any recent fresh images available since the software updates.

Now that the rover is preparing for its actual roving, and the spectacular landing is now history, there will probably be many days when there won't be much to report or show us. The truth is, the landscapes of Mars are all rather similar and not terribly exciting.

This rather naturally leads us to wonder what's next. Assuming they find evidence of past life there, then what? We can't restore it, and without an adequate atmosphere or sufficient water supply it's not very habitable for humans. Particularly not on the outer fringe of the ecosphere around our sun
where temperatures are less than comfortable, to put it mildly.

But it would be very interesting to be able to confirm our suspicions about what really did happen there long ago causing Mars to be left as it is now. And it's quite likely that we're getting close to that. 

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