Space
Aliens: Life On The Red Planet? NASA Will Collect Samples From Mars To Investigate Any Life Forms
Alex Davis
First Posted: Dec 12, 2016 03:19 AM EST
The planet Mars has been controversial for the existence of alien life. Thus, NASA will now collect samples coming from the Red Planet to somehow investigate if the planet has the environment to offer life.
Since 2012, the Curiosity rover droid has been on the planet Mars. It stays at the planned drilling site on a lower Mount Sharp called the Precipice. The scientists wanted to drill into the land and collect soil samples for analysis. It is where the highest and youngest area on Mars that has been sampled by the rover, which is operated by the space agency.
The drill collects powdered rocks, then studied by the laboratory instruments inside the rover. Apparently, the rover has shown that different chemicals required for life to evolve exist on Mars. However, there was no concrete evidence that there was a form of life that had evolved.
A NASA spokesman said that, "Clues about environmental conditions are recorded in the rock layers. During its first year on Mars, the mission succeeded in its main goal by finding that the region once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, if Mars has ever hosted life. The conditions in long-lived ancient freshwater Martian lake environments included all of the key chemical elements needed for life as we know it, plus a chemical source of energy that is used by many microbes on Earth," according to Express.
The rover has already driven 9.33 miles since it landed in August 2012 at the Gale Crater on Mars. However, NASA reported that the rover team recently discovered that Curiosity did not complete the drilling commands. The rover is studying its surroundings and monitoring the environment instead of driving and using its arm for science.
Thus, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Steven Lee said that, "We are in the process of defining a set of diagnostic tests to carefully assess the drill feed mechanism. We are using our test rover here on Earth to try out these tests before we run them on Mars.To be cautious, until we run the tests on Curiosity, we want to restrict any dynamic changes that could affect the diagnosis. That means not moving the arm and not driving, which could shake it."
In line with this, NASA is still fixing the problem. Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada at JPL shared that, "We still have percussion available, but we would like to be cautious and use it for targets where we really need it. Otherwise, use rotary-only where that can give us a sample."
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First Posted: Dec 12, 2016 03:19 AM EST
The planet Mars has been controversial for the existence of alien life. Thus, NASA will now collect samples coming from the Red Planet to somehow investigate if the planet has the environment to offer life.
Since 2012, the Curiosity rover droid has been on the planet Mars. It stays at the planned drilling site on a lower Mount Sharp called the Precipice. The scientists wanted to drill into the land and collect soil samples for analysis. It is where the highest and youngest area on Mars that has been sampled by the rover, which is operated by the space agency.
The drill collects powdered rocks, then studied by the laboratory instruments inside the rover. Apparently, the rover has shown that different chemicals required for life to evolve exist on Mars. However, there was no concrete evidence that there was a form of life that had evolved.
A NASA spokesman said that, "Clues about environmental conditions are recorded in the rock layers. During its first year on Mars, the mission succeeded in its main goal by finding that the region once offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life, if Mars has ever hosted life. The conditions in long-lived ancient freshwater Martian lake environments included all of the key chemical elements needed for life as we know it, plus a chemical source of energy that is used by many microbes on Earth," according to Express.
The rover has already driven 9.33 miles since it landed in August 2012 at the Gale Crater on Mars. However, NASA reported that the rover team recently discovered that Curiosity did not complete the drilling commands. The rover is studying its surroundings and monitoring the environment instead of driving and using its arm for science.
Thus, Curiosity Deputy Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena Steven Lee said that, "We are in the process of defining a set of diagnostic tests to carefully assess the drill feed mechanism. We are using our test rover here on Earth to try out these tests before we run them on Mars.To be cautious, until we run the tests on Curiosity, we want to restrict any dynamic changes that could affect the diagnosis. That means not moving the arm and not driving, which could shake it."
In line with this, NASA is still fixing the problem. Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada at JPL shared that, "We still have percussion available, but we would like to be cautious and use it for targets where we really need it. Otherwise, use rotary-only where that can give us a sample."
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone