NARRATOR: July 20, 1976--
NASA's unmanned Viking 1
Orbiter and Lander touches
down on the surface of Mars.
Three weeks later, it is joined
by its companion, the Viking 2.
For the first time ever,
humanity has established
a presence on another planet.
The Viking Landers
actually landed on Mars
and took a sample, but
they landed in one spot
and they stayed in one spot.
We've since sent the
Pathfinder Sojourner.
For the first time, we
have a system on Mars
that if we see something
shiny over there
and we want to go check it
out, we'll send the rover
and get a very close look
at it, take samples, get
high definition video from it.
And that is a very
good start for figuring
out where people
need to go when we
get ready to send them there.
NARRATOR: In 2012,
the Curiosity Rover
landed on Mars' Gale Crater.
It was the most ambitious Mars
mission flown by NASA today.
[cheering]
NARRATOR: One if its objectives
was to gather data that will
help scientists
determine what is
needed to make the planet
more habitable for human
exploration.
In June 2018, Scientist
and Aerospace Engineer Dr.
Travis Taylor
traveled to Johnson
Space Center in Houston, Texas.
There he met with NASA
Exploration Mission
Scientist Dr. Elizabeth Rampe.
Dr. Rampe analyzes data obtained
by the Mars Curiosity Rover,
which six years
into its mission,
is sending back some of its
most extraordinary findings yet.
So there was very late
breaking news recently
from the Curiosity Rover, and
some interesting information
came out of the Sample Analysis
at Mars, or SAM instrument.
So SAM can measure
gases in the atmosphere.
And it can also measure gases
that are evolved from samples.
So basically, we drill a
rock, deliver that powder
to the instrument, and then that
instrument heats up the sample
and measures the gases
that are coming off.
Whatever out gases, it
can tell you what this--
what that is, right?
Exactly.
So a big piece of information
from the atmosphere
is that we've been
tracking methane
over the last few martian years.
And what we see is that
there is a cycle to it,
where it spikes late summer,
early autumn, and then dips
again.
Wow.
Yeah, so the big question
is why is that happening?
Right, so that could possibly
be due to an organic material,
right, or a biological source?
Exactly.
So that's--
Meaning life.
Right, I know, so huge.
Wow.
It's not the only
hypothesis out there.
TRAVIS TAYLOR: Sure.
But there is the
possibility that there
is extant life on Mars that
is creating this methane.
Wow.
The fact that NASA has
now released information
that they've measured
a cycle of methane that
goes up in the summer
and down in the winter--
it sounds very similar to
how biological processes
create methane here on Earth.
That could be evidence that
there's life right now on Mars.
[music playing]
