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Volume 27, Issue 15, November 18, 2004

Features

Mars attacked the red planet's mysteries remain unsolved

THE MARS EXPLORATION PROGRAM

Marvin the Martian is an example of how, even as children, the mystery and possibilities of life on Mars are deeply rooted in our imaginations. Is there, or was there ever life on Mars? It probably isn't Marvin but it's a good possibility that some form of life could have, or might now exist, considering recent findings indicating that water once flowed there. Where did all the water go? Is it still wet enough for life to be thriving? Mars was not always the planet we now observe. How did it look millions of years ago? Hopes for answering

these questions fuel the excitement for NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

Recently, scientists involved in the program visited Denver to talk about the progress of their mission. The Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America hosted The Latest (Red) Dirt From the Mission Makers at the Denver Convention Center. Information gathered by the two solar-powered robot rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as well as information from other existing rovers and orbiters, was presented at the Mars Forum.

"Nice thing about a rover mission is that if you don't like what you see, you can move," said Steven W. Squyres, professor of astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and the principal investigator for the Mars Exploration Team. Squyres, a panelist at the forum, was deeply involved with the engineering and design of both Spirit and Opportunity.

Opportunity detected not only hematite, but also sulfates, which suggests that it has visited what was once the shoreline of a salty sea. Rich basalts have been discovered on Mars, said Squyres.

In the course of this mission, Opportunity has explored the Endurance and Eagle Craters. Rock layers deep within Endurance are older and thicker than those found in the Eagle Crater. The older and thicker rock layers of Endurance could reveal an earlier Mars upon further, in-depth, examination.

"There's layered rock in the Columbia Hills," Squyres said. While Opportunity was in the craters, NASA's Spirit rover landed on Mars' Columbia Hills, which was named to honor the astronauts who died aboard the Spacecraft Columbia.

"We found some really strange stuff (on Mars)," Squyres said.

One mysterious finding mentioned at the forum concerned Mars' polar ice caps. Mars has two large polar ice caps made of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) sublimating from the atmosphere. Scientists think there is some possibility of frozen water being underneath the polar caps.

The cap's unusual pits enlarge from evaporating carbon dioxide-more than expected from seasons alone, said forum panelist, Michael Malin, president and chief scientist of Malin Space Science Systems and member of the Mars Global Surveyor team.

Pits in the ice will make the ice melt faster, but the ice melts faster than scientists are used to observing here on Earth.

"What it means is that the ice properties are probably different. That's one of the reasons they're really not sure about what is happening," says Dr. Kamran Sahami, Metro physics professor.

"I think the geology is very interesting and specifically, I think the history of water could mean so many things," he said.

Where did the water go and how long ago was it there? These are questions that, thanks to NASA's Mars exploration program, are beginning to be answered.

"We discovered gullies there that appear to be relatively young," said Malin. The continued exploration of the geology of Mars will confirm just how long ago the water flowed through those gullies and how young they actually are.

"Follow the water," said Daniel McCleese, a chief scientist for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California. "We're asking the question: Was there ever life on Mars?" McCleese said. To aid in unveiling Mars' perplexing past, rovers are eventually expected to return Martian rock samples to scientists on Earth for closer examination.

"We're also interested in climate as a field in itself," McCleese said.

The Mars Odyssey, produced by Arizona State University, was launched with a thermal emission imaging system (THEMIS) onboard. It is a camera that is mapping Mars by using thermal infrared images. THEMIS has three instruments in one-a visible light camera, a thermal camera and a multi-spectral infrared camera. Also, the images THEMIS produces will determine the mineral content of Mars.

"The purpose of THEMIS is to give the geology and temperature of the surface," said Philip Christensen, geophysicist and Principal Investigator for the Mars Global Surveyor, from Arizona State University.

The agenda will remain eventful for the team of scientists who will continue to research the mysterious red planet. NASA will send the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, in 2005. The rovers already there visiting will be sent to explore Mars' polar regions in 2007 and a rover that carries its own analytic laboratory is to be sent in 2009. Also, some of the equipment sent to Mars from previous missions such as the robot, Mars Express, and the 2001 Odyssey orbiter are still intact and making discoveries, .

"Today, we think the question is: Was it ever habitable?" McCleese said. Other scientists seem to agree that is the question most likely to be answered during the course of this mission. Hopes of finding any forms of life that are still thriving seem less likely, although not being ruled out, as so far the discoveries there have been unpredictable.

"It might be too cold and dry now. Finding past life is more likely," said Sahami.