Present day Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth: Difference between revisions
Present day Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth (edit)
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A few places on Earth, such as the hyper-arid core of the high Atacama desert and the McMurdo dry valleys in Antarctica approach the dryness of current Mars surface conditions. In some parts of Antarctica, the only water available is in films of brine on salt / ice interfaces. There is life there, but it is rare, in low numbers, and often hidden below the surface of rocks (endoliths), making the life hard to detect. Indeed, these sites are used for testing sensitivity of future life detection instruments for Mars.
<youtube>IkBKZYzeobk</youtube>
Other analogues duplicate some of the conditions that may occur in particular locations on Mars. These include ice caves, the icy fumaroles of [[Mount Erebus]], hot springs, or the sulfur rich mineral deposits of the Rio Tinto region in Spain. Other analogues include regions of deep permafrost and high alpine regions with plants and microbes adapted to aridity, cold and UV radiation with similarities to Mars conditions.<ref name=PlanetaryAnalogues>{{cite web|last1=The Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute, The Open University|title=TN2: The Catalogue of Planetary Analogues|url=http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/gsp/The_Catalogue_of_Planetary_Analogues.pdf|publisher=Under ESA contract: 4000104716/11/NL/AF|date=5 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="PrestonDartnell2014">{{cite journal|url=http://lewisdartnell.com/en-gb/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/18-Preston-Dartnell2014_IJA.pdf|last1=Preston|first1=Louisa J.|last2=Dartnell|first2=Lewis R.|title=Planetary habitability: lessons learned from terrestrial analogues|journal=International Journal of Astrobiology|volume=13|issue=1|year=2014|pages=81–98|issn=1473-5504|doi=10.1017/S1473550413000396|bibcode=2014IJAsB..13...81P}}</ref>▼
: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkBKZYzeobk Euronews - Is there life out there? We head to 'Mars on Earth' to find out]
Other analogues duplicate some of the conditions that may occur in particular locations on Mars. These include ice caves, the icy fumaroles of [[Mount Erebus]], hot springs, or the sulfur rich mineral deposits of the Rio Tinto region in Spain.
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These Mars analogue environments are used for furthering the study of [[astrobiology]]. For instance, they are used for testing life detection instruments to be sent to Mars, as a source for species to be tested for their ability to survive on Mars, and as a way to study how Earth life copes in conditions that resemble conditions on Mars. They may also give us some insight into adaptations that native Mars life could use to survive.
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