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the strange attraction of gale crater

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presented by science at nasa

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curiosity is about to go to mars the

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car-sized rover also known as the mars

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science lab is scheduled for launch in

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late november or early december 2011

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from the kennedy space center

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after an eight-month voyage to mars

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curiosity will land at the foot of a

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three-mile high mountain in a crater

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named gale

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it sounds a little odd a mountain in the

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middle of an impact crater

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wouldn't the impact have smashed it flat

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some scientists believe the 96 mile wide

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crater filled in with sediments over

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time and relentless martian winds carved

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a mountain in the center where it now

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stands nearly three times higher than

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the grand canyon is deep

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because of its history this strangely

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sculpted mountain is the ideal place for

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curiosity to conduct its mission of

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exploration into the red planet's past

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joy crisp msl deputy project scientist

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from nasa's jet propulsion lab explains

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this may be one of the thickest exposed

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sections of layered sedimentary rocks in

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the solar system

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the rock record preserved in those

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layers holds stories that are billions

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of years old stories about whether

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when and for how long mars might have

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been habitable

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today the red planet is a radiation

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drenched bitterly cold bleak world

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enormous dust storms explode across the

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barren landscape and darken martian

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skies for months at a time but data from

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mars reconnaissance orbiters suggest

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that mars once hosted vast lakes and

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flowing rivers gale crater and its

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mountain will tell this intriguing story

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says matthew golembeck mars exploration

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program landing site scientist from jpl

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the layers there chronicle mars

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environmental history

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in the gentle slopes around the mountain

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curiosity will prospect for organic

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molecules the chemical building blocks

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of life

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mars reconnaissance orbiter has found an

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intriguing signature of clay near the

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bottom of the mountain and sulfate

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minerals a little higher up

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both minerals are formed in the presence

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of water which increases potential for

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life-friendly environments

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all the types of aqueous minerals we've

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detected on mars to date can be found in

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this one location explains golembeck

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clay settles slowly in water and forms

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little platelets that conform around

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things hardening over time and encasing

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them in casts

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clay could seal organics off from the

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outside environment much like a

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preserved dinosaur bones on earth

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if organics ever existed on mars they

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could be preserved in the clay

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even on planet earth teeming with life

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finding billion-year-old well-preserved

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organics is difficult

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but curiosity will find them if they're

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present in the samples it takes

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the rover is equipped with the most

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advanced suite of instruments for

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scientific studies ever sent to the mars

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surface

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when these are brought to bear on gale

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crater and its mysteriously layered

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mountain who knows what discoveries will