New exhibition material
3 February 2010 ESA has updated an interactive demo and visuals on its space missions that are studying the origins and evolution of life in the Universe.
How did life appear on Earth?
For life to appear on Earth, the presence of water was certainly necessary. Scientists are currently studying three possible sources of life:
-Deep-sea vents: In an environment where light and oxygen do not exist, methane is often a key element for life to form, such as in underwater hot springs in the oceans.
- Icy oceans: Simple life forms capable of photosynthesis could have evolved in the oceans, protected from the deadly effects of ultraviolet radiation by icy crusts in the colder regions.
- Space: Bacteria almost certainly travelled on comets and meteorites between planets, and thus could also have been brought to Earth in this way.
Description
The HRSC on ESA's Mars Express obtained this perspective view on 2 February 2005 during orbit 1343 with a ground resolution of approximately 15 metres per pixel.
It shows an unnamed impact crater located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars's far northern latitudes, at approximately 70.5° North and 103° East.
The crater is 35 kilometres wide and has a maximum depth of approximately 2 kilometres beneath the crater rim. The circular patch of bright material located at the centre of the crater is residual water ice.
The colours are very close to natural, but the vertical relief is exaggerated three times. The view is looking east.
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