[meteorite-list] Measuring Martian Meteorites at Houston's Lunar and Planetary Institute

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2007 16:34:42 -0500
Message-ID: <b2lq13tthcdnljb00ii0v0qes6el4d0s2m_at_4ax.com>

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2007/4/emw517793.htm

Measuring Martian Meteorites at Houston's Lunar and Planetary Institute
 
 
 
 

In the documentary just released on The Futures Channel's website, "The Surface
of Mars," Dr. Molly McCanta, an experimental petrologist, takes students inside
the Lunar and Planetary Institute to show them how her scientific studies of
tiny Martian meteorites found on Earth could unlock some of that planet's
mysteries.

Burbank, Calif. (PRWEB) April 11, 2007 -- 37 Martian rocks that somehow reached
our planet over the eons may be key to telling us how Mars was formed, and may
also tell us the best place to land when we visit the Red Planet.

In their latest online documentary, "The Surface of Mars," The Futures Channel
takes students to the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas to meet
experimental petrologist Dr. Molly McCanta. She studies Martian rocks that
landed on Earth as meteorites. She knows they're from Mars, she explains, from
the gases trapped inside the rocks. Her challenge is not small.

"Working on Mars, working on any other planet, is always a big challenge because
I can't just pick up a rock and study it," she says. "What we're attempting to
do is take 37 small bits of rock and recreate the whole geologic history of a
planet."

She explains in the movie, now showing on The Futures Channel's website, that
with the help of a spacecraft orbiting Mars measuring the topographical data, as
well as the Mars Rovers collecting rock samples, all of her scientific detective
work will help to reveal the geological formation of a planet similar to Earth.
It is also possible that her research could lead to discoveries of where other
life forms may have originated. As Dr. McCanta states, "the general idea is that
where there's water, you have life forms." The polar regions and higher
latitudes may reveal the mystery one day, she says.

She is enthusiastic about her work and hopes others will find it exciting too.
"Young people are encouraged to get involved at the early stages," Dr. McCanta
says in the movie, "because they're the ones who are actually going to be the
scientists when spacecrafts get there and start producing data and sending it
back to earth."

The Lunar and Planetary Institute is one of the foremost resources for
scientists focused on the exploration of the solar system with an expansive
collection of space photography, including the earliest explorations of the Moon
and the solar system.

"We provide a conduit for scientists from around the world, to come and get
access to those collections," says Dr. Steve Mackwell, the Institute's Director.
"It is an institute that is designed to provide a scientific and support role
for NASA and its connection to the university community. They're all working on
various aspects of solar system research."

Watch the movie:
http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/realworld/surface_of_mars/

 
Received on Wed 11 Apr 2007 05:34:42 PM PDT