Posted on 02/25/2007 5:59:07 PM PST by KevinDavis
People interested in Mars exploration, like many of the scientists at the Carl Sagan Center (CSC) in Mountain View California, often start by exploring cold, dry, thin aired Mars-like “analogue” sites on earth.
Most of these places are isolated and hard to reach. Antarctica, the Arctic, the Peruvian Andes, Kamchatka and other exotic locales offer scientists glimpses into the kinds of environments that may hold clues to understanding Mars and the processes that have shaped it. Of key interest is the extreme or unusual conditions under which life persists. We know that everywhere on earth where we find liquid water, we find life, but what are the limits? How cold, how hot, how high, how deep, can life be and still survive? Temperature, pressure, gravity, pH, salinity, radiation, available nutrients and more all represent parameters that can influence an environment and its ability to sustain life, so areas where these parameters are extreme can be very informative.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.