Exploration on and off Earth
2020 has its own name: Mars. Five missions to the red planet are announced for that year. NASA, the European and Russian Space Agencies, China, India and, finally, the Arab Emirates, have prepared ambitious missions that seek direct information on Mars.
Today scientists already have clear that on the surface of Mars there was once liquid water. And the director of the Group of Planetary Sciences of the UPV, Agustín Sánchez Lavega, believes that there is the possibility of finding clues that there has ever been life. He has also recognized that it would be his dream. In any case, the team led by Sánchez Lavega will participate in two of the five missions of 2020.
The objective of all these missions, beyond the signs of life, is to determine the potential habitability of the planet and facilitate the access of the first explorers men to Mars in the future. It seems that the information that 2020 missions will bring can be key to this. For example, the NASA mission will attempt to find out how astronauts of the future could use the natural resources available on the surface of Mars.
Mars is undoubtedly the most explored and known planet in the Solar System after Earth. But much remains to be known. Not so much on Earth, as fewer and fewer unexplored corners. There are a few and we have travelled directly to one of them, accompanied by three glaciologists: The southernmost corner of Patagonia, one of those territories heavily affected by ice, storm and glacial wind.
Two explorations, two totally different styles, one by the hand of cutting-edge technology and the other in the style of the explorations of yesteryear, with the lightest technology possible. Two styles, but both as a source of pleasure for readers. Of those who invite to dream!
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Zientzia aldizkaria
