can mars support life?

The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite will take up more than half the science payload on board the Mars Science Laboratory rover and feature chemical equipment found in many scientific laboratories on Earth. Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Sample Analysis at Mars will search for compounds of the element carbon, including methane, that are associated with life and explore ways in which they are generated and destroyed in the martian ecosphere.

Actually a suite of three instruments, including a mass spectrometer, gas chromatograph, and tunable laser spectrometer, Sample Analysis at Mars will also look for and measure the abundances of other light elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, associated with life.

The mass spectrometer will separate elements and compounds by mass for identification and measurement. The gas chromatograph will heat soil and rock samples until they vaporize, and will then separate the resulting gases into various components for analysis. The laser spectrometer will measure the abundance of various isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in atmospheric gases such as methane, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. These measurements will be accurate to within 10 parts per thousand.

Because these compounds are essential to life as we know it, their relative abundances will be an essential piece of information for evaluating whether Mars could have supported life in the past or present.

for more information of this and to where i found this video visit http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html

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• mars
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• hondain

[aTnavarrow]

WoW that is interesting hondain ! Thanks !

[hondain]

@aTnavarrow i agree, i find this very interesting. i only wonder if they will tell us the truth of their findings ; )

[3slowhand]

i find all this very confusing,, why is nasa still spending billions on this sort of mission,,when it supposedly has all answers anyway ?? also apparently this mission only has a 50% chance of success, the money could be better spent on Earth. we live in a time with so many contradictions !

[luisnitro91]

Definitely it can support life, the other question is, "can Earth keep supporting life"

There is Intelligent life on planet Mars, there is vegetation and water, and there is those enteties we call NASA aka NATZI ILLUMINATI taking over a planet it's not there's. Imagine what they'll do to that planet in the near future, look at earth for once.

[aTnavarrow]

I wonder this too ~ I hope Mark see's asap ~

I suppose the obvious is they just do not want us to know eh ~

Political also ~ who know what where how and why etc ~

Then there are the so called scared people, haha walk down the street that is more scary ! Have a great night !