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(Image Source: NASA)
BY LOGAN TITTLE
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY
NASA’s Curiosity rover made a new discovery on the red planet that hit close to home.
Here’s WOGX.
“Scientists say that the rover found dirt on Mars that looks a lot like volcanic sand
in Hawaii. Scientists plan to use this new information to determine if life ever existed
in the red planet.”
Space.com reports Curiosity studied a scoop of dirt with a special instrument, known as
CheMin, used to determine if the landing site could have ever supported life.
“CheMin studies soil and powdered rock samples using a technique called X-ray diffraction,
which reads the structure of minerals by interpreting how X-rays bounce off of them.”
And the BBC reports — it’s very precise and accurate.
“The CheMin experiment first sieves down a soil sample, separating out the components
smaller than 150 micrometres - about the width of two human hairs … ‘So far, the materials
Curiosity has analysed are consistent with our initial ideas of the deposits in Gale
Crater, recording a transition through time from a wet to dry environment,’ said David
Bish, co-investigator on the CheMin experiment.”
The Associated Press reports Curiosity dug up the soil near the Martian equator. NASA
expects the rover to drill into its first rock in about a month.