Caves Found on Mars: Best Hope for Finding Extraterrestrial Life on the Planet

The quest for extraterrestrial life by scientists and enthusiasts is getting pretty exciting. The news released today about a number of caves discovered on Mars will interest not only scientists and enthusiasts but many people not normally involved in the quest for life on other planets.

New details sent back by a satellite orbiting Mars show what looks like caves on the planet's surface. In the pictures seven spots situated near the equator of Mars can be seen. Scientists studying the pictures believe that it may be possible that these spots are actually entrances to underground caves.

The Mars Odyssey, as satellite orbiting the planet, took the images of Mars' surface. The satellite used a special technology called Thermal Emission Imaging System or THEMIS for short.

Scientists studying the images have named the newly found caves after family, calling them: Abbey, Annie, Chloe, Dena, Jeanne, Nikki and Wendy. For short they have been referred to as the seven sisters. The caves are located near a very large volcano called Arisa Mons.

Each cave is around the size of a football field. The smallest cave opening is 330 feet wide and the largest is 820 feet wide. The cave named Dena appears to reach around 430 feet underground.

The first researcher to notice the caves in the images, Glenn Cushing, from the North Arizona University has said, "Caves on Mars could become habitats for future explorers or could be the only structures that preserve evidence of past or present microbial life."

The thirst for discovering past or present life on Mars has lead to numerous Mars related projects. One project currently going on focuses on THEMIS. The goal of the project is to improve THEMIS' "visual and infrared techniques." The same project is also working on the development of special robots that could be used to explore locations such as the caves.

All testing for this project has had to be carried out here on Earth. In an attempt to best simulate the conditions on Mars scientists have worked in a number of locations. The projects is called the 'Earth-Mars Cave Detection Program'. For the first part of the project scientists developed their infrared and thermal imagines technology by using a special detector that was flown over caves in New Mexico and Arizona. The second part of the project will carry out tests in what researchers call 'Mars analogue' sites. These particular sites are thought to best represent a Martian environment. Earth locations that will be used include the Mojave, California and Atacama, Chile deserts and freezing environments of Antarctica and Iceland.

The caves recently discovered on Mars are extremely significant in the quest for extraterrestrial life. It is possible that they may be one of the best locations to discover evidence of life on Mars. At the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Glenn Cushing and colleagues said, "We're suggesting that the seven black spots are skylights to area where the surface may have collapsed into a chamber below. Preserved evidence of past life on Mars might only be found in caves, and such discovery would be of unparalleled significance."

Sources
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070402/sc_space/possiblenewmarscavestargetsinsearchforlife
http://www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/articlearchiver.pl?160084
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070402153116.htm