Caves Found on Mars: best hope for finding extraterrestrial life on the planet
 The search for extraterrestrial life by scientists and amateurs is pretty exciting. The news reports today on a number of caves found on Mars will not only benefit scientists and amateurs but many people not normally involved in the search for life on other details planets.New returned by a satellite in orbit around Mars show what looks like caves on the planet surface. Images in seven places near the equator of Mars can be seen. Scientists studying the pictures think it may be possible that these spots are actually underground cave entrances. The Mars Odyssey orbiting the planet by satellite took images of the Martian surface. The spacecraft used a special technology called Thermal Emission Imaging System, or THEMIS images short.Scientists study named the newly discovered caves after the family, calling Abbey, Annie, Chloe, Dena, Jeanne Nikki and Wendy. In short, they were called the seven sisters. The caves are located near a volcano called Arisa Mons.Each great cave is about the size of a football field. The opening smaller cave is 330 feet wide and the largest is 820 feet wide. The cave is named Dena to about 430 feet underground.The first researcher to notice the caves in the images, Glenn Cushing of Northern Arizona University said, "Caves on Mars could become habitats for future explorers or may be the only structures that preserve evidence of past or present microbial life. "The thirst for discovery of past or present life on Mars has led to many projects in March. A current project focuses on THEMIS. The project objective is to improve THEMIS 'infrared and visual techniques. "The same project is also working on developing special robots that could be used to explore areas such as testing for this project caves.All had to be done here on Earth. In an attempt to better simulate conditions on Mars Scientists have worked in a number of places. The project is called "Earth-Mars Cave Detection Program. For the first part of the project scientists have developed their technology and infrared thermal imagine using a special detector that was flown over the caves in New Mexico and Arizona. The second part of the project will test in what researchers call "analog sites in March. These sites are particularly thought to represent at best a Martian environment. places on Earth that will be used include the Mojave, California and the Atacama desert of Chile and freezing environments of Antarctica and Iceland.The caves recently discovered on Mars are extremely important in the search for extraterrestrial life. They may be one of the best places to find evidence of life on Mars. During the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Glenn Cushing and his colleagues said: "We propose that the seven black spots are skylights in the area where the surface may have collapsed into a chamber below. Retain proof of past life on Mars could be found in caves, and this discovery would be of unprecedented importance "Sourceshttp:. / / News.yahoo.com/s/space/20070402/sc_space/possiblenewmarscavestargetsinsearchforlifehttp: / / www.swnebr.net/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles/ 160084http articlearchiver.pl: / / www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007 / 04/070402153116.htm
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