The 2011 Mars Science Laboratory Mission: Assessing the Potential for Past Life on the Red Planet

In November 2011, a most capable rover was launched from Earth en route to the surface of Mars. The chosen landing site is Gale Crater, a large and ancient impact basin that has many geological, chemical, and mineral signatures within it that record a long history of water. The Mars Science Laboratory has roughly a dozen instruments that will detail the past environment and search for signatures of ancient life on Mars over the course of several years. In this November 2, 2011 public lecture, Dr. Hynek discussed the evidence of an ancient habitable environment in Gale Crater and how the Mars Science Laboratory will sleuth out signs of any preserved biosignatures. We may be very close to discovering if other planets had life in the distant past!

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