NASA's Curiosity rover, drilling into a rock near its landing site, has found clear evidence that Mars, eons ago, could have supported living microbes. Mission scientists said today, in the words of Mike Meyer, NASA's chief Mars scientist, they've found "all the signs of being a habitable environment at one time."
Scientists said they had found from previous missions that the Martian surface was once warm and wet, but now they say Curiosity has given them evidence the water was much like water on Earth - not too briny, salty or alkaline for living things.
"We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity's project scientist, "that if you had been on Mars, the water would have been pure enough to drink."
Mars Curiosity rover in a self portrait from its robot arm. Image: NASA.
Curiosity used a tool on its robot arm to drill into a rock nicknamed "John Klein," after a Mars scientist who died in 2011. The powder from the drilling was dropped into a miniature laboratory on board the rover, where it could be heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The gases that were produced could then be measured - carbon dioxide, forms of sulfur, calcium compounds and other chemicals that would only show up if the place had once been friendly to life.
"This rock looks like something you'd typically find on Earth," said Grotzinger.
PICTURES: MARS CURIOSITY ROVER EXPLORES MARS
The scientists, laying out their chemical evidence in detail, emphasized that if there ever was life near Mount Sharp, where Curiosity landed last August, it is long gone. "It's not a puddle on Mars," said one of the lead experimenters, Paul Mahaffy. "It's now cold and dry there. Most of the atmosphere has escaped." But millions of years ago, it was very different, he said. "And it sure is fun to dig in the dirt there."
There will be more exploring to do, and the scientists said they would still like to see if there are organic compounds in the rocks. Curiosity has had computer problems in recent weeks that have slowed its ability to explore its landing site.
But John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut who now heads NASA's science efforts, said he applauded the Curiosity team.
"Did Mars ever have a habitable environment? Now we have the answer," said Grunsfeld. "Just sitting here, I'm giddy."
RELATED ARTICLES
NASA INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: PIC OF HUGE MOTHERSHIP?
MEDVEDEV TALKS ABOUT ALIENS ON EARTH! IS HE JOKING?
THANK YOU, STAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, FOR... WELL, SAVING THE WORLD - NEW
"... Well, guess what? We actually did face a cataclysm. We are at the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. And guess who saved us? No, not Harrison Ford or Will Smith. The extraterrestrials saved us. Specifically star beings from the PLEIADES and Arcturus...."
RUSSIAN METEOR WOULD HAVE CAUSED A NEW ICE AGE
"COMMON QUESTIONS FROM NON-LIGHTWORKERS" - FEB 2012 (KRYON CHANNELLING BY LEE CARROLL)
"... QUESTION THREE: IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER PLANETS?"
"Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! RIGHT NOW, YOUR SCIENTISTS ARE SEARCHING FOR MICROBIAL LIFE ON ALL THE PLANETS AND THEIR MOONS IN YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM, AND THEY WILL EVENTUALLY FIND IT. THEY EXPECT TO FIND IT. THEY WILL EVENTUALLY UNDERSTAND THAT THE SEEDS OF LIFE ARE EVERYWHERE."
"How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers. How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?"
"If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds. Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right."
"If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them."
"You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called PLEIADIANS. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE, AND THEY'RE ALL HERE AS WELL. THEY'RE LOOKING AT YOU, FOR YOU ARE THE ONES WHO ARE NEXT, AND YOU ARE PASSING THIS MARKER OF THE SHIFT...."
"... Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a PLEIADIAN can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?"
"Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly! Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?"
"I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy..."
"THE BIG PICTURE - YOU ARE NOT ALONE" - FEB 2012 (KRYON CHANNELLING BY LEE CAROLL)
0 comments:
Post a Comment