The first missions to Mars showed a desert world without life. But Curiosity has taught us that this was not always the case. This car-sized robot landed in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012 on its mission to Mars. During this decade, he has found evidence there that 3.5 billion years ago, at the same time that the first living beings appeared on Earth, the right conditions for life existed. In this video, EL PAÍS journalist and science expert Daniel Mediavilla analyzes the life of this machine that has contributed to changing the way we see the planet.
Just last January, NASA announced the discovery of a type of light carbon in rock samples analyzed by Curiosity. On Earth, this signal would be interpreted as almost indisputable evidence of the presence of microbial life in the past. That, about the past, but Curiosity has also detected methane spikes of an unknown origin, about which Mediavilla provides details in the video.
Curiosity’s work over these years on the surface of Mars leaves us with interesting data and some disturbing questions. What happened on that planet crossed by rivers and lakes, welcoming for life, to become the frozen desert that it is today? It still has nuclear fuel for another ten years, enough time to give us new surprises. The analysis on this issue appears in the video that accompanies this news.