In another “Is There Life On Mars?” twist, scientists have now discovered that Mars has tectonic plates similar to those of Planet Earth. While Mars has indeed often been a feature in mainstream and cult-classic horror movies and media as being “the enemy planet”, until now, the potential of life on Mars had actually been nothing more than pure fiction. Now, however, since NASA’s “Mars Rover: Curiosity” landed on the barren planet, it seems that the potential of life once being on the planet is larger than ever, TPM reports.
Curiosity was blasted into outer space in 2011 en route for Mars. Some sceptics believed that the Rover would simply fail. However, In August of 2012, “Curiosity” successfully completed the first phase of its mission when it landed on Mars. Of course, Curiosity’s mission had only just began. It then became the rover’s duty to “curiously explore” the planet and, for the first time in history, attempt to uncover its many potential hidden secrets. The first one discovered was none other than a tectonic plate system similar to Earth, which in turn make the planet potentially more hospitable to life.
Mars is known as “The Red Planet” for the fact that it is almost completely red in color. The dark, barren planet resembles that of a desert, but it is certainly an option that Mars may not be barren at all; it may, or may once have held life on its surface. Tectonic plates make necessary elements of life such as water and carbon recycle at an accelerated rate. It is these things that help make up a life-form and keep a hospitable planet, such as Earth, running. In a way, tectonic plates are a crucial part of creating and maintaining life on a planet. Scientists say that this fact means Mars has more potential for life than other planetary systems.
NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover will continue on with its mission to explore “The Red Planet” after an update to its operating system. After what is already a ground-breaking discovery that revisits a quickly abandoned 1992 theory made by Professor Norm Sleep, who was the first person to publicly consider the fact that Mars may have a tectonic plate system similar to Earth, Curiosity’s exploration of Mars is already a raving success with hopefully much more success to come in the near future. With Curiosity already uncovering one of Mars’ hidden secrets and delivering the first images from its surface, exactly what else will be discovered about “The Red Planet” in the coming weeks and months?
