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Mars Invasion: Probing Puzzles On The Red Planet

Posted by timothy on from the stirring-up-trouble-is-all dept.

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."

6 of 19 comments (clear)

  1. Let's just hope.. by OutRigged · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    --
    RaGe
    We're all just noise on the wires..
    1. Re:Let's just hope.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

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

  2. Battlebots by techgeek10101 · · Score: 0, Funny

    With the arrival of Beagle, Spirit, and Opportunity in the near future the Martian landscape will soon look like the Battlebot arena. How much would it cost to send Vlad The Impaler?

  3. California's mission to teraform Mars? by jerde · · Score: 3, Funny

    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

    --
    INsigNIFICANT
  4. Hmm by Hard_Code · · Score: 1, Funny

    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.

    --

    It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
  5. Jettison suitcase on Mars? by AtariAmarok · · Score: 2, Funny

    "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.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.