Days after rover Curiosity landed on Mars, Dr Amitabha Ghosh, a renowned planetary geologist working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said that it throws up multiple avenues of research -- including the crucial question -- whether the 'Red Planet' supports life.
Dr Ghosh, an Indian-origin scientist, who is Chair, ScienceOperations Working Group, Mission Operations, NASA Mars Exploration RoverMission, said that what awaits them is exciting research in the months ahead."The previous missions have indicated that there is water on Mars -- andthis mission takes the research a step further and probe whether Mars supportslife," Dr Ghosh said over telephone from Washington DC on Tuesday.
Dr Ghosh, an alumni of IIT-Kharagpur, as Chair of Science Operations Working Group, he works ontactical rover operations including rover driving and science experiments.
Said Dr Ghosh: “NASA's astrobiology programme was startedwith the aim of looking for life on Mars and other planets. It ended upteaching us more about life on our own planet. We looked for life on extremeenvironments on earth and we found life in very surprisingly hostileenvironments like hot springs and volcanic vents. The indirect benefits of NASAprograms are enormous. Yes, it is possible that we might find life on otherplanets or satellites of other planets.”
"When man first landed on moon, Neil Armstrong broughtrocks from the surface of the Moon, so that we can experiment here on labs, buttoday, the scene has undergone complete change, we have sent an advanced lab(to Mars), ...... so space science too has undergone a major change," hesaid.
"I feel that Curiosity will herald an era of effectiveas well as inexpensive method of exploring other planets using rovers and otherrobotic vehicles. From the science standpoint, it is possible that Curiositywould be able to find organic compounds on Mars," he said.
About the mission, he said that there are 13 instruments onboard the nuclear-power operated car-sized Mars rover.
Asked whether he can definitely conclude whether there islife on Mars, he said: "You might find life or evidence of life in thenext few years. And, there are chances you may not find evidence of life.
But, this might not necessarily mean that life never existedon Mars in past or exists in the present. It might simply mean that either welooked at the wrong places or that the defining evidence, that would have settledthis question, has been destroyed with time.....experiments wouldcontinue."
He further said: “Yes, because life as we know on Earthrequires the presence of water. Thus, the discovery of water on Mars, doesincrease the chances of life having existed at some point during the geologichistory of Mars.”
