Berlin, Germany.- A ship Space plans to take off Mars next week in a mission that scientists hope will help answer one of the most pressing questions of the era of interplanetary travel: is there life on other planets
the aircraft, part of the Russian-European ExoMars program is scheduled to take off from the spaceport Baikonur? Kazakhstan, aboard a Proton rocket at 05:31 local time (0931 GMT) Monday to begin a journey through space of seven months.
ship take an atmospheric probe that will study traces of gases such as methane, around Mars, along with a probe that will test the technologies needed for exploration rover will continue in 2018.
the rover Curiosity of US space agency NASA in late 2014 found methane gas jets in the planet’s atmosphere, a chemical that on Earth is strongly tied to life.
scientists believe that methane could come from microorganisms called methanogens. They think that either extinct millions of years ago and left gas frozen beneath the planet’s surface, or some methane producing organisms still survive.
“Proving that life exists or has existed in Mars show that the Earth is not unique in terms of having life “, Rolf de Groot, director of the Office for the Coordination of Robotic Exploration of the European Space Agency (ESA).
> Another explanation of methane in the atmosphere of Mars might be that is produced by a geological phenomenon such as oxidation of iron.
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