"What area on Mars is the most interesting for us?". My answer to this question isn’t an impressive geological feature like Olympus Mons or Valles Marineres. For me, it’s a rather unremarkable seeming crater, Richardson crater near the south pole. Let me explain why.First this shows where it is.
The present day habitability of Mars is an area of research that has exploded hugely in the last decade, to the extent that it s often hard to keep track of everything that s going on. This is by way of background material for my other articles on habitability of Mars.
Mars is Earth like in some ways, but in other ways it s very different with its global dust storms every two years, its thick sheets of dry ice at its ice caps in winter. Any fresh water is close to its very low boiling point in the near vacuum. And the eccentric orbit also has a big impact on its seasons.
Lisa Pratt, the new planetary protection officer for NASA takes up her job at a challenging time for astrobiology. We are approaching a major decision point for Mars. If Elon Musk succeeds in his ambitious plans, then some time in the next couple of decades we may introduce trillions of hardy microbial spores to the planet.
Engineering professor developing model detecting ice on Mars gwhatchet.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gwhatchet.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.