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Picture of the day -
January 28, 2006
The Rocky Surface Of Mars
Photo courtesy of
NASA.
Today's picture features a scene that is literally out of this world - the rocky
surface of the planet
Mars. The
surface of the red planet is covered with rocks, many of which are quite
interesting. Just like the ones on
Earth, these
Martian stones were formed by a variety of natural processes. There are igneous
rocks, sedimentary rocks, even meteorites that landed there after traveling
through space.
The Spirit Rover landed on Mars in January 2004 on a mission to
photograph the Martian surface and gather scientific data. Although the mission
was planned to last for just 90 days, Spirit and its twin rover
Opportunity are still going strong two years later. These amazing robotic
space explorers have sent back thousands of detailed images and many gigabytes
of data for astronomers and scientists (as well as you and me) to pore over.
The planet Mars has long been a source of wonder and mystery for earthlings of
all ages because it is so much like our own planet. Throughout human history
people have sat and wondered if there is intelligent life on Mars, and if so,
what would the Martians be like? Would they be friendly to us or try to destroy
us? Would their civilizations be more advanced than ours or stuck in a Martian
version of the Stone Age?
Thanks in large part to what we have learned from the Spirit and
Opportunity expeditions, these questions have been pretty much definitively
answered. There is no apparent intelligent life on Mars - at least not today.
But some day in the near future that will almost certainly change because NASA
is developing plans for sending a manned mission to Mars. And just as with the
lunar missions of the 1960's and 70's, the United States will do whatever it
takes to accomplish that mission.
But for now, we still have the twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity
serving as our eyes, feet and hands on the Martian landscape. As long as they
are "alive" they'll keep taking one stunning picture after another while analyzing
the soil and rocks they encounter during their travels.
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