Sunday, February 16, 2014

Microbial Life at Mars

Self-portrait of the Curiosity of the Rover on Mars NASA Photo

Mars Curiosity Rover has confirmed that Mars was at some point warm and wet enough to support microbial life. The experiment took place on February 8, 2013, and it consisted on Curiosity drilling from a rock on the Gale Crater. A gray mineral was extracted, which included clay minerals. Other chemical elements such as sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, among others (common on Earth’s microbial activity) were found. Michael Meyer (lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program), and John Grotzinger (Curiosity’s chief mission scientist) have both concluded that Mars was able to support life at some point, almost 3 billion years ago, when life emerged on Earth.

By Biology Group 1: Maribel Alberto, Mileidy Gonzalez, and Adrian Gonzalez

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