PubTalk 1/2003 — Exploring Mars

Recent Discoveries and Upcoming Missions

By Michael H. Carr, Planetary Geologist

• Thirty years of Mars exploration have revealed a spectacularly diverse planet
• Dry river valleys and layered sediments suggest a warm, wet past
• Huge floods may have created transient oceans
• Towering volcanoes, deep canyons, and global fracture systems dwarf their counterparts on Earth
• Two US rovers and a European lander, to be launched this May and reach Mars in January 2004, are expected to shed new light on how the planet evolved