Could Life Hide Inside Mars’ Caves?
While one intrepid Mars rover goes crawling this month into its biggest crater yet, eyes from the Martian sky are capturing first views of caves, and making progress on some of the most tantalizing question facing Red planet researchers. NASA is highlighting a pair of interesting reports based on photos and data drawn from its Orbiter probe, drawing tentative conclusions about what appear to be unusual cave structures, and waterlike drainage patterns that successive photos of the same area show have developed over the past decade. The drainage gullies had initially raised hopes that researchers had found evidence of present-day liquid flow on the planet’s surface. Take a look at the first picture included here (color has been enhanced to display the patterns) and you’ll see why – its resemblance to run-off from mountain gullies is striking. Scientists have seen these patterns develop, since before-and-after photographs of the area dating back to an earlier mission in 1999 have seen the
