We have only one way to study the surface of this tragically beautiful planet; advanced technology with a robotic arm and HD cameras for our eyes. In August of 2007, we launched the Phoenix mission to collect samples of both the Martian soil and atmosphere. Hopefully we can find water ice closer to the poles and analyze those samples with instruments on the deck of our spacecraft.
The lander we sent on the Phoenix mission will beam signals back from the Martian surface reporting the results of the remote soil and ice analyses. But before Phoenix even had a chance to make it off the launch pad a new wrinkle in the epic saga of Mars had revealed itself. Images sent back from the Viking orbiter circling the red planet show evidence of a very unexpected event. It appears that a liquid flow of some sort occurred within the last few years in a small gully at the edge of a deep Martian ravine.
In 2001 the orbiter took photos of the exact same spot with nothing of interest showing up in those shots. The new photos, on the other hand, showed a white residue in the gully. Residue seemingly left behind by a flow of liquid, possibly where water spurted from the ground and flowed for several hundred yards before transforming into vapor and vanishing. Scientists do not yet understand what might have caused such a flow. But many suspects that it's a result of an active core the planet must still contain.
Clearly, a volcanically active red planet indicates life. Not the life we were looking for, but the planet lives. It only needs inhabitants to call it home. We have found places on Mars where hydrothermal vents could be active. This is significant not just because we want liquid water. But because liquid water implies that this might be a new world waiting for us to come. Ironic to think of Mars as a living thing, but how can we not think of her this way now? And it is, of course, all about the search for life in when all is said and done.
The engine driving the astonishing scientific effort to explore the red planet is the burning desire of humankind to know if life exists elsewhere in the vast reaches of space. Mars seems to almost want to show us what we want to see. She displays to us her rich minerals. We want to see water so she displays plums of what could be water from her dry barren landscape. She has even shown us a face on her surface; a trick of lighting across her own scarred face to mirror our own.
Humans have since his dawning consciousness wondered why they are here and wonder what's up there and wonder if there's more. We seem to need to know the answer to this question to gain some kind of perspective. Finding life on Mars could also help us understand the origins of life here. Set aside your numbers and your data for a moment and peer up at that blood red spark in the sky with your own eyes. Have we not seen her face? Have we not seen her tears?
On our own planet, Mars could be a reflection of Earth and what we could bring about here. Scientists have even speculated that we could have perhaps arrived here on Earth on a celestial piece of Marsfloating in space. That is quite a leap even by scientific standards. To play devil's advocate, instead of asking, what wounded Mars so grievously? Perhaps we should ask, who did this to her? Perhaps in our search of life we should be mindful of what we may learn. As we continue to tax our own planet we may discover we humans are not life at all, but rather a universal contagion.
When a virus destroys its host does it not also kill itself? Does it not also seek a new host? As our numbers explode here like a virus, we may come to learn we are not a civilization at all, but a virus… and the death of worlds.
No comments:
Post a Comment