New ESA Rover Will Look For Life On Mars
The ExoMars mission will also have an orbiter that will scan for the best landing site for the rover. The rover is slated to travel to ten different locations in 6 months. The rover will use a radar system that can scan the surface and subsurface, a drill that can dig down 1-2 meters below the surface and gather a sample that will be brought to the onboard instruments that will look for life, past or present, in the Mars landscape.
"Past or present" -- good call. Note that this is an ESA mission. I suspect NASA lacks the guts.
The ESA has always provided subtle but very telling glimpses into the true nature of Mars. Much controversy erupted around them when they started releasing color images of the planet. MANY images have since been "treated" to remove the more obvious telltale organic colors (many have not).
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure but I've always felt that the ESA and NASA have had a tenuous relationship regarding disclosure. I think there is some heavy duty push and pull happening behind the scenes with these two agencies.
I strongly suspect we'll still be subject to the same old "Now there is, now there isn't, now there may be, now there can't be" routine of past several decades....
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