“Drilling to this depth is unprecedented on Mars”: How the ESA’s new robotic rover will take the search for alien life to new depths.
The quest for life on Mars will soon go deeper than ever before as the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover launches in 2028, deploying a robotic rover capable of drilling two meters below the Martian surface.
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover is the first mission ever explicitly designed to look for evidence of past or present Martian life. Part of that design is recognizing that material below the harsh present-day Martian surface may be the best hope of finding such evidence. At a depth of two meters (6.5 ft), the rover can collect samples that could date back as far as four billion years. At that time, Mars would have reflected the conditions of the early Earth, offering a new window into the origins of life as researchers explore whether or how life arose on the Red Planet.
“The drilling depth of two metres was chosen based on a balance of scientific goals, mechanical feasibility, and mission constraints,” Harry Marsh, an Aberystwyth University postgraduate working on Enfys for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover, told The Debrief. “This depth is deep enough to reach pristine subsurface material that has been shielded from surface radiation and oxidation – essential for detecting preserved organic molecules.
“Going beyond two metres would require larger, heavier, and more power-hungry equipment, which is impractical for a mobile Rover,” Marsh added.
“The surface of Mars has been completely baked by ionising radiation, oxidants and ultraviolet light, which rapidly degrade organic molecules,” Marsh said. “The material two metres below the sun-baked surface has been shielded from these destructive forces.
“Drilling to this depth is unprecedented on Mars, and is what makes the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover special – its ability to access subsurface material and retrieve pristine samples which may contain preserved evidence of possible life,” Marsh added.
https://thedebrief.org/drilling-to-this-...ew-depths/
The quest for life on Mars will soon go deeper than ever before as the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover launches in 2028, deploying a robotic rover capable of drilling two meters below the Martian surface.
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover is the first mission ever explicitly designed to look for evidence of past or present Martian life. Part of that design is recognizing that material below the harsh present-day Martian surface may be the best hope of finding such evidence. At a depth of two meters (6.5 ft), the rover can collect samples that could date back as far as four billion years. At that time, Mars would have reflected the conditions of the early Earth, offering a new window into the origins of life as researchers explore whether or how life arose on the Red Planet.
“The drilling depth of two metres was chosen based on a balance of scientific goals, mechanical feasibility, and mission constraints,” Harry Marsh, an Aberystwyth University postgraduate working on Enfys for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover, told The Debrief. “This depth is deep enough to reach pristine subsurface material that has been shielded from surface radiation and oxidation – essential for detecting preserved organic molecules.
“Going beyond two metres would require larger, heavier, and more power-hungry equipment, which is impractical for a mobile Rover,” Marsh added.
“The surface of Mars has been completely baked by ionising radiation, oxidants and ultraviolet light, which rapidly degrade organic molecules,” Marsh said. “The material two metres below the sun-baked surface has been shielded from these destructive forces.
“Drilling to this depth is unprecedented on Mars, and is what makes the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover special – its ability to access subsurface material and retrieve pristine samples which may contain preserved evidence of possible life,” Marsh added.
https://thedebrief.org/drilling-to-this-...ew-depths/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
