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Tag Archives: Atacama Desert
ExoMars 2020: FiT for Mars
Rovers are versatile explorers on the surface of other planets, but they do need some training before setting off. A model of Rosalind Franklin rover that will be sent to Mars in 2021 is scouting the Atacama Desert, in Chile, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Atacama Desert, ESA, European Space Agency, ExoFiT, ExoMars, ExoMars 2020, ExoMars 2020 rover, Rosalind Franklin
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Field test: Robotic rover collects subsurface samples with patchy, specialized microbial life
[Editor’s note: From a paper by Kimberley Warren-Rhodes and eight co-authors recently published in Frontiers in Microbiology.] Subsurface Microbial Habitats in an Extreme Desert Mars-Analog Environment Sediments in the hyper-arid core of the Atacama Desert are a terrestrial analog to … Continue reading
Rain brings death in Mars-like Atacama desert
When rains fell on the arid Atacama Desert, it was reasonable to expect floral blooms to follow. Instead, the water brought death. An international team of planetary astrobiologists has found that after encountering never-before-seen rainfall three years ago at the … Continue reading
Dormant microbial life in Atacama Desert goes active when wet — true for Mars, too?
It may rain once a decade or less in South America’s Atacama Desert, but tiny bacteria and microorganisms survive there, hinting at the possibility of similar life on Mars, researchers said Monday. [Their report was published in the Proceedings of … Continue reading
Rocks in Chile help the search for Mars life
Robots like Viking, Phoenix, and Curiosity have found indirect evidence of oxalate minerals on Mars. New techniques tested in the Chile’s Atacama Desert could help future Mars rovers analyze these minerals for possible by-products of life. Organic oxalates tie up … Continue reading