Mars, the Red Planet, had always captivated people’s imaginations of an alien world teeming with Alien Life similar to the life that exists on Earth. NASA’s latest announcement shows that people’s imaginations and speculations may not have been so far off. The space agency has announced the discovery of the strongest evidence suggesting the Red Planet could have had habitable conditions suitable for alien life that were very similar those on early Earth.
The amazing discovery
Studies conducted on samples gathered by the Curiosity Rover have revealed compelling evidence that Mars once had diverse environments, possibly featuring a chemical diversity that could have determined microbial life.
The rover examined a mudstone area of the Red Planet called Pahrump Hills near Mount Sharp.
After a thorough analysis of the samples collected, the scientists of the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at Johnson Space Center in Houston have reached the conclusion that Mars once had very similar environmental conditions to the ones on early Earth and that alien life could have evolved on the Red Planet as it did on Earth. Their findings were recently published in the very reliable journal called “Earth and Planetary Science Letters.”
NASA’s manned mission to the Red Planet
About one month ago the space agency announced its plans for a manned mission to Mars. For the moment NASA is still at Phase 0, performing scientific experiments at the International Space Station (ISS).
Phase 1 is expected to begin between 2018 and 2025 and it involves testing and launching 6 rockets that will transport the various materials needed to build the new space station called "Deep Space Gateway." On Phase 2, the Transport tube will be launched to the new moon station where astronauts and scientists will be researching for 2 years.
Phase 3 will begin in 2030 and it involves resupplying the transport tube while Phase 4 which will begin in 2033 is the actual manned mission to Mars.
The significance of the findings and the manned mission
The discovery is a great step ahead in searching for proofs that alien forms of life once existed on Mars. The humanity could, one day, come to the conclusion that the Universe is actually a very “fertile” place, where life evolved and still does on many planets and is not limited to Earth. Maybe, some day in the near future we will be able to find a planet with the right environmental conditions, suitable for future human colonization.
