Most all photos from above and on Mars have shown mostly reddish- orange soil and rocks. However the rover Spirit took photos of whitish material of which the main ingredient is most likely quartz and glass. Soil like this has never been found on Mars before. Similar soil on Earth usually means it was created either by volcanic steam or a hot spring. Possibly hot water saturated with the whitish silica deposited the strange colored soil. Living microbes, like those in many of the hot pools in Yellowstone National Park, , are very comfortable in these environmental hot spots. Possibly as in Yellowstone, small life forms may have once thrived in ancient Martian pools. Analysis of these white soils might tell us more.
(E.O.A.S.blog1) Students will study heat loving life forms (called extremofiles) that inhabit Yellowstone National Park, study other extreme (hot, cold, acidic etc) forms of life and relate such information to possible life forms on other planets and moons.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071218.html
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
