New Mars rover to land in intriguing giant crater
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - The latest Mars destination is a giant crater near the equator with an odd feature: a mountain rising from the crater floor.
How did it get there?
Gale Crater was gouged by a meteor impact more than 3 billion years ago. Over time, scientists believe sediments filled in the 96-mile-wide crater and winds sculpted the 3-mile-high mountain, called Mount Sharp.
Mount Sharp's stack of rock layers can be read like pages in a storybook with older deposits at the base and more recent material the higher up you go, providing a record of Mars history through time.
Images from space reveal signs of water in the lower layers of the mountain, including mineral signatures of clays and sulfate salts, which form in the presence of water. Life as we know it needs more than just water. It also needs nutrients and energy.
During its two-year mission, the NASA rover Curiosity will trek to the lower flanks of the mountain in search of the carbon-based building blocks of life.
How did it get there?
Gale Crater was gouged by a meteor impact more than 3 billion years ago. Over time, scientists believe sediments filled in the 96-mile-wide crater and winds sculpted the 3-mile-high mountain, called Mount Sharp.
Mount Sharp's stack of rock layers can be read like pages in a storybook with older deposits at the base and more recent material the higher up you go, providing a record of Mars history through time.
Images from space reveal signs of water in the lower layers of the mountain, including mineral signatures of clays and sulfate salts, which form in the presence of water. Life as we know it needs more than just water. It also needs nutrients and energy.
During its two-year mission, the NASA rover Curiosity will trek to the lower flanks of the mountain in search of the carbon-based building blocks of life.
They are going to prove once and for all that men are not from Mars and women from Venus.
Seriously though, when will the land rush take place? It could be like the old west. We could be riding robot horses out on the big red prairie. I'm from the desert...where do I sign up? It would be very exciting to be one of the first...if you live to tell about it.
 @Elvis You thinking like that old 80s cartoon Bravestarr?
Screw life on Mars. They are after heavy metals deposits. Life on Mars is merely the pain in the butt of future terraformers and would-be miners. Something they really do not want to find. While they might find exploitable organic life that they could profit on, the chances are much higher that it would be a real problem for those who would work there, or that would want to bring things back here.
If they find a Starbucks I am going to cry...
 @Citizen#3457899654 http://aliens.monstrous.com/gallery/albums/A1/normal_14_Starbucks_Alien.jpg
Dude, that doesn't EVEN look like Arnie!
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Pack up the Gulf Stream Ma! We're goin' to Mars! Woohoo!