SCI/TECH: Robot Finds Life in Desert, Mimicking Skills Needed on Mars, page 1

posted on Mar, 16 2005 @ 07:05 PM

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A robot with sensor equipment has detected life on the terrain of the Chilean desert. This is a first for rover-based systems. Nobody was surprised about this because the real goal is the red planet, Mars. The rovers on Mars now, do not have this technology and this could be a negative.

space.com
A robot laden with sensor equipment has detected life on the arid terrain of the Chilean desert, a first for rover-based systems.

Nobody was surprise to find life there, but with the harsh conditions and sparse biological activity, the feat is likened to finding microbial creatures on Mars if any exists there.

Zoë, a four-wheeled automaton built to scan for living organisms, found evidence of bacterial colonies and lichens living among the rocks of Chile’s Atacama Desert.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

NASA’s twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are currently exploring the red planet, but they do not have the equipment to make the specific measurements required for life detection. I feel that this is horrible. Hopefully, the next batch of Mars missions will involve humans or robots with life detecting technology.

[edit on 16-3-2005 by they see ALL]

they see ALL

posted on Mar, 16 2005 @ 08:33 PM

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why didn't NASA think about putting life detecting tech. on the twin Mars rovers in the first place???

does anyone know the answer???

jrod

posted on Mar, 16 2005 @ 08:36 PM

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I dont know, I suppose the scientists working on the probes did not expect to find life like that. Another thing on the probes is I swear of seen images of puddles or water and little running streams on Mars but the rovers are not equipped to the best of my knowledge with sensors that can detect that either, now whys that?
I hope im not just making blind speculations.