Imagine a Mars that isn’t a deserted wasteland. Picture a patchwork of rivers crisscrossing the planet, perhaps emptying into a large freshwater lake. Or glaciers, flowing across the surface and carving channels into the rock.
And now the big question: Did Mars ever have the environmental conditions to support life?
Did Mars ever support microbial life? The DAN tool on the back of the Mars Curiosity Rover measures hydrogen in Mars’ soil, which could indicate the presence of water—and the means to support life. Courtesy NASA. Launched on November 26, 2011, the Curiosity Rover’s mission is to discover evidence that could suggest Mars was capable of supporting microbial life. Equipped with more than a dozen instruments, Curiosity acquires rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis. The Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) tool mounted on the back of the Rover measures hydrogen in Mars’ soil. Subsurface hydrogen, which can be detected by DAN up to one meter below the planet’s surface, might reveal the presence of water in the soil. And water could indicate the means to support life.