Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Mars Rover Investigates Possibility of Ancient Microbial Life

Posted by Zonk on from the people-of-earth-greet-you dept.

Riding with Robots writes "The robotic geologist Spirit, now scurrying to reach a safe haven before the harsh Martian winter sets in, has found signs that explorers say point to hot springs or fumaroles in the Red Planet's distant past. That possibility is not only interesting geologically, but potentially biologically, since those kinds of environments on Earth teem with microbial life. Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, Opportunity continues its descent into a deep crater, where it has found other clues about the ancient waters of Mars."

4 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Other Title by Kamokazi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I liked this title better: "Mars Rover Investigates Steamy Martian Past" But on a serious note, those rovers continually prove they were one of the best investments NASA ever made.

    --
    As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable Slashdot 2.0.
    1. Re:Other Title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      It wasn't merely as insurance against a failure. It was also insurance against landing someplace utterly boring with one of them. Their landing method wasn't capable of getting into the places they knew were interesting, so they picked spots where they had a good chance of landing within driving distance of something that looked interesting from orbital images.

      They originally thought they struck out with Spirit. Sure they had a few rocks to grind on, but they were all ejecta from the lava plains. Basalt isn't very interesting if you're looking for evidence of past water.

      However, as the mission wore on, they realized they would probably have time to drive to Columbia Hills, which they in fact accomplished, and that turned out to be a trove of information. These possible fumeroles are on the far side of Columbia Hills from where they landed.

      Opportunity was just lucky from the beginning. Sucker landed right inside a crater. The Spirit team was more than a little jealous.

  2. Offtopic, but funny journalism. by Technician · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the article;

    "Spirit and its twin rover Opportunity have remained on Mars for much longer than originally planned. "

    I never knew they were ever planning on leaving Mars. ;-) I think the reporter should have said the rovers have functioned longer on Mars than originally planned.

    --
    The truth shall set you free!
    1. Re:Offtopic, but funny journalism. by shawnce · · Score: 5, Funny

      The only way NASA could get the rovers to go in the first was by telling them that they would return home safely at the end of the mission. Of course that was a lie but sometimes you just have to lie to get things done (just don't let the rovers know this).