MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, will be the next mission to Mars and will study the atmosphere, according to ScienceDaily.
(I did not know what the word maven meant, so I looked it up at dictionary.com, which defines maven as a noun that means expert or connoisseur.)
Right now, MAVEN is being tested to ensure that it will be able to withstand the harsh conditions in space and on Mars. If everything goes according to plan, the "connoisseur" will be launching in November. MAVEN is going to be gathering data about the planet's possible past habitability. You can read more about Mave's poor turkeyless-Thanksgiving on the principal investigator's website, lasp.colorado.edu.
Now what the heck does habitability mean, and why would past habitability matter? To me, and I think the prof. would agree with me, "habitability" by the University of Colorado at Boulder's and many others' standards refers to habitability by Earthlings specifically, or at least Earthling-like creatures. If this is so, then would past habitability mean anything? Why does it matter if we find evidence that Earthlings (unlikely) or Earthling-like creatures used to live on Mars? And why research that? Is it so hard to believe that life forms on other planets wouldn't have different needs, and wouldn't that make all planets "habitable" by some life form or other?
Wait. Earth is habitable by Earthlings. But for how long? Maybe MAVEN can help us see into our own future and try to prevent a similar fate from happening to us. If Mave discovers that Mars used to be inhabitable by Earthlings, and if he (yes, I said he) can determine what caused it to become uninhabitable, those would be invaluable findings. And imagine, what if there had been Earthling-like creatures on Mars at one time? What if...?
Feel free to comment below what you think about the MAVEN mission and it's potential results.
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