Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on June 18, 2017, 04:26:38 pm

Title: This Former Lake On Mars Could Have Supported Life
Post by: Buster's Uncle on June 18, 2017, 04:26:38 pm

This Former Lake On Mars Could Have Supported Life
The Curiosity rover has studied sedimentary rock to find out the history of a long-gone lake.
Popular Mechanics
By Sophie Weiner  Jun 17, 2017 


(http://pop.h-cdn.co/assets/17/24/1497711680-pia19839-galecrater-main.png)
NASA



For five years now, NASA's Curiosity rover has trawled the Gale Crater on Mars, searching for signs of life. But Gale Crater was not always a dried out pit. The ancient Gale Lake existed for about 700 million years, between 3.8 and 3.1 billion years ago. Curiosity has been able to use the mountain in the center of the lake, Mount Sharp, to get a look at some of the sedimentary layers that reveal the lake's history. The rocks show that the amount of oxygen has varied over time, as has the climate on the mountain. But it suggests that for a long period of time, millions and millions of years, the lake would have been habitable for life. That's pretty exciting--even if we never find evidence that life actually existed there.

 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1wZffwbXQ4#)


http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a26968/curiosity-mars-lake/ (http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a26968/curiosity-mars-lake/)