Science, Technology and Society 361: "Mars Exploration" -- Fall 2010

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Criticism of Mars probes

The lead author of a recent study from University College London claims that current probes don't drill deep enough to discover any possible living cells that may exist. Radiation levels on the have been determined to be lethal to cellular life "within several meters of the surface" which is beyond the reach of the probes designed to test for life on Mars. The researchers also determined that young craters, gullies, or recently exposed ice would have the best probably of finding life due to the relative short time period of being exposed to cosmic radiation. A newly discovered frozen sea known as Elysium is a promising location for future study.

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