Mars Expert David Des Marais to Share Insights about Red Planet

NASA's David Des Marais will share insights about Mars – what we know now and what we expect to learn from the Mars Science Laboratory Mission – during a free public lecture Nov. 19, 2011. Attendees will also have an opportunity to learn about Mars-related citizen science programs.

Mars is the one other planet in the solar system that apparently had a climate most similar to that of Earth. Mars has a core, mantle and crust, and it has preserved an ancient geological record that has no parallel on Earth. An early hydrological cycle sustained precipitation, streams and lakes. Later in Mars' history, volcanism, impacts, groundwater and ice interacted at least locally. Liquid water participated in the chemical weathering of rocks and also created distinctive environments that potentially sustained life.

The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover will investigate a landing site in Gale crater to determine whether it ever hosted an environment capable of supporting microbial life. A 5 km-high mound on the floor of the crater consists of layered sedimentary rocks having diverse minerals (sulfates and clays) that formed in the presence of liquid water. This rock sequence was deposited over an extended time period in diverse potentially habitable environments.