What has NASA found on Mars? Space agency prepares for Curiosity Rover announcement
NASA is expected to make a major announcement on Thursday, June 7, concerning its most recent Curiosity Rover findings. But what exactly has NASA found on the surface of the Red Planet?
The US space agency will host a major press conference this week to discuss the latest science discoveries picked up by the remote Mars rover.
NASA’s exciting announcement has pulled in a raft of space boffin heavyweights who have vowed a pledge of silence until Thursday.
Online forums and social media platforms are now wild with speculation NASA is about to drop an extraterrestrial life bombshell.
The live panel discussion will feature appearances from Paul Mahaffy, director of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Jen Eigenbrode, research scientist at Goddard, Chris Webster, from NASA’s Pasadena-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist.
The NASA announcement will stream live online and on the agency’s terrestrial television platform NASA Television from 2pm EDT or 7pm UK time.
Looks like our beloved Mars rover Curiosity has a surprise for us
The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube and Twitter’s Periscope platform.
Follow Express.co.uk for on-the-day coverage of the big Curiosity Rover announcement.
Ahead of the conference, the rumour mill is abuzz with speculation.
Mike Ryals, @MichealRyals, tweeted: “Looks like our beloved Mars rover Curiosity has a surprise for us.
GETTY/NASA
NASA
“Could it be evidence of Martians, or a fancy rock? Who knows, NASA will announce Thursday.”
But not everyone is convinced the announcement will feature any breakthroughs in the hunt for extraterrestrial life outside of Earth.
One Twitter user, @SteelCat, speculated: “This is an interesting but obscure result from Curiosity.
“Let’s hold a press briefing and embargo it like every press meeting ever.
NASA
“Tabloid morons: NASA has found life on Mars!!! Conspiracy!!!! ALIENS!!!!!”
NASA’s big Curiosity conference comes just two days after the agency revealed the rover’s drills were back in action and analysing samples in in one of its onboard labs.
The Martian rover began drilling into the surface of Mars in October 2016 to study the planet’s mineral chemistry.
Jim Erickson, project manager of the Mars Science Laboratory, said: “This was no small feat. It represents months and months of work by our team to pull this off.
“JPL's engineers had to improvise a new way for the rover to drill rocks on Mars after a mechanical problem took the drill offline in December 2016.”