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Follow @universetoday on Twitter Will humans ever really go to Mars? Let’s face it, the obstacles are quite daunting. Not only are there numerous, difficult, technical issues to overcome, but the political will and perseverance of any one nation to undertake such an arduous task just can’t be counted on. However, one former NASA engineer believes a human mission to Mars is quite doable, and such an event would unify the world as never before. But McLane was still at NASA when he originally had an idea for a one-way, one-person mission to Mars. McLane’s idea came from his acquaintance with a Russian cosmonaut. A return to the “get it done” attitude of the 1960′s and a goal of a manned landing within a short time frame, like Apollo, is the only way we’ll get to Mars, McLane believes. “When we eliminate the need to launch off Mars, we remove the mission’s most daunting obstacle,” said McLane.
Image: Jim McLane during his career at NASA. JPL.NASA.GOV: News Releases. 'Active glacier found' on. A probable active glacier has been identified for the first time on Mars.
The icy feature has been spotted in images from the European Space Agency's (Esa) Mars Express spacecraft. Ancient glaciers, many millions of years old, have been seen before on the Red Planet, but this one may only be several thousand years old. The young glacier appears in the Deuteronilus Mensae region between Mars' rugged southern highlands and the flat northern lowlands. "If it was an image of Earth, I would say 'glacier' right away," Dr Gerhard Neukum, chief scientist on the spacecraft's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), told BBC News.
"We have not yet been able to see the spectral signature of water. This is found in very few places on the Red Planet because as soon as ice is exposed to the Martian environment, it sublimates (turns from a solid state directly into gas). Flooding event In Deuteronilus Mensae, Dr Neukum estimates that water came up from underground in the last 10,000 to 100,000 years. Mars robot unearths microbe clue. Nasa says its robot rover Spirit has made one of its most significant discoveries on the surface of Mars.
Scientists believe a patch of ground disturbed by the vehicle shows evidence of a past environment that would have been perfect for microbial life. The deposits were probably produced when hot spring water or steam came into contact with volcanic rocks. On Earth, these are locations that tend to teem with bacteria, said rover chief scientist Steve Squyres. "We're really excited about this," he told a meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). Lucky find It has been described as a fortuitous discovery. In May this year, scientists working on the mission noticed the churned-up soil had a much brighter appearance than usual.