Whats so cool about finding water on Mars?
Scientists know that having available water is absolutely necessary when planning for space exploration. Any thoughts about finding some type of life in space, at least life as earthbound scientists define life, require water. Mars seems to be the only other planet within our solar system that we can most easily explore and on which we can possibly live. NASA and the Russian Space Agency have sent more space probes to Mars than to any other planet. We study Mars with telescopes that show it really is the Red Planet! However, the entire planet is not red. There are areas of white at both poles. Hmmmm – are they ice caps? … made of frozen water? … or something else? In April 2001, NASA launched a special spacecraft to Mars. This craft was the 2001 Mars Odyssey and the trip took 6.5 months. Mars Odyssey’s main job was to take measurements that could help scientists know what kinds of elements and minerals make up the surface of Mars. Odyssey looked for hydrogen, one of the two element
