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'Curiosity' Jets Off to Rove the Red Planet in Search of Little Green Men Conditions for Life
A rocket carrying the SUV-sized rover named Curiosity blasted off to Mars from Cape Canaveral this morning without a hitch.
The rover, expected to land 354 million miles away in 2012, is not on a direct search for Martian life, but it is looking for indirect clues that life COULD have existed on Mars at one point.
"I like to say it's extraterrestrial real estate appraisal," said Pan Conrad, an astrobiologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the project.
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Earlier this week, the New York Times had a story about Curiosity's search for methane on the red planet. The existence of methane could prove that Mars made a home for microbial life — perhaps even the kinds of microbes that could have made a home on earth.
Because Mars is smaller than Earth, it cooled faster, and it probably would have been hospitable for life earlier. That raises the intriguing possibility that pieces of Mars containing microbes were blasted into space by asteroid impacts and later landed on Earth, seeding life here. In other words: we could all be descendants of Martians.
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But the game has changed: Congress voted to eliminate funding for public media across the country. Here at LAist that means a loss of $1.7 million in our budget every year. We want to assure you that despite growing threats to free press and free speech, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust. Speaking frankly, the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news in our community.
We’re asking you to stand up for independent reporting that will not be silenced. With more individuals like you supporting this public service, we can continue to provide essential coverage for Southern Californians that you can’t find anywhere else. Become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission.
Thank you for your generous support and belief in the value of independent news.
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