What has NASA found on Mars? Get set for major announcement

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover snaps a self-portrait on Vera Rubin Ridge back in February 2018. (Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

NASA is set to make a major announcement about a Mars discovery on Thursday.

In a statement released earlier this week the space agency promised “new science results” from its Mars Curiosity rover.

News of an announcement has sent ripples of excitement through the scientific community.

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Described as the most technologically advanced rover ever built, Curiosity launched on Nov. 6 2011. The rover landed on Mars' Gale Crate on Aug. 6 2012 with the goal of determining whether Mars was ever able to support microbial life.

The rover has already delivered some important scientific results. In 2013, for example, analysis of a rock sample collected by the vehicle showed that ancient Mars could have supported living microbes. In 2014 the rover measured a tenfold spike in methane, an organic chemical, in the atmosphere around it. The robotic laboratory also detected other organic molecules in a rock-powder sample collected by its drill.

Participants in NASA’s 2PM EDT press conference include Paul Mahaffy, director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Jen Eigenbrode, research scientist at Goddard. Chris Webster, senior research fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at JPL, will also be taking part.

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Space.com reports that Curiosity recently began drilling on the Martian surface for the first time in 18 months. The rover is climbing Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-high mountain in the center Gale Crater, according to Space.com.

Mars looms ever larger in America’s space future. On May 5, NASA launched its InSight Mars lander on a 7-month journey to the red planet. The mission, which is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will provide scientists with a wealth of data.

NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s. However, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin thinks that a slightly later target date of 2040 is more realistic. In an interview in 2016, the Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 astronaut told Fox News that by 2040, astronauts could have visited Mars’ moon Phobos, which could serve as a sort of stepping stone to the Red Planet.

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Other NASA missions to Mars are also planned, although the heat shield for the agency’s 2020 Mars Rover recently cracked during tests. Officials say that the incident won’t affect the mission’s 2020 launch date, according to Space.com. The six-wheeled robot is expected to arrive on Mars in 2021.

Earlier this year, NASA announced a project to build robotic bees capable of flying on Mars.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter also celebrated 12 years at the Red Planet this year.

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Private space company SpaceX is also working to reach Mars. Speaking at the South by Southwest festival earlier this year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that he expects to see test flights of the firm’s Mars spacecraft next year.

Fox News’ Chris Ciaccia contributed to the article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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