Mars on Earth
The great successes of the Mars rover missions have made it possible to dream again about exploring other worlds, but the reality is that we're probably generations away from a manned mission to the Red Planet or any large asteroids. Meanwhile, manned visits to other distant bodies, such as the moons of Jupiter or Saturn, are beyond the practical scope of current technology.
The good news for space age aficionados, though, is that there are ways to experience alien landscapes first-hand right here on Earth. NASA and other space agencies around the world have identified several "terrestrial analogues," or places on Earth that closely resemble the landscape of some other known alien world. In other words, with a little imagination you could explore our solar system without going anywhere. Consider this an Earth-bound travel guide to the solar system. (Text: Bryan Nelson)
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1. Rio Tinto, Spain
This unearthly, reddish river in southwestern Spain is unlike any you've ever seen before. The water gets its coloration from iron dissolved in the water, and is notable for being extremely acidic. This may not sound like a suitable place to find life, but living in the bizarre waters of Rio Tinto are extremophile aerobic microorganisms that feed on the iron and sulphide minerals plentiful in the river.
Scientists now believe that these conditions could be the perfect analogue to what happens when liquid water flows on other planets or moons, such as on Mars or perhaps on Jupiter's moon, Europa. If life can survive under these conditions here on Earth, then it's possible that it also has survived elsewhere, making Rio Tinto an important case study into astrobiology.
In fact, data retrieved from NASA's Opportunity rover has shown that similar conditions to those at Rio Tinto have existed on Mars in the past.
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2. Devon Island, Canada
Canada's Devon Island is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. While its desolate landscape may not make it an ideal location for a summer vacation home, it does make the perfect place for testing out rover technology for trips to Mars. Aside from its striking resemblance to the Red Planet's rocky, dry landscape, Devon Island is also home to the 12-mile-long Haughton crater, which is similar to the crater-strewn topography on Mars.
The site is the home of the Haughton-Mars Project, an international interdisciplinary field research project, funded in part by NASA, designed to study how human explorers might one day live and work on Mars.
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3. Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii
Venus has more volcanoes than any other planet in the solar system, and its landscape is dominated by far-reaching lava plains that are mostly basaltic in composition. These kinds of lava flows are typical output of shield volcanoes, like Hawaii's Kīlauea. In fact, Hawaii's Big Island represents the largest single volcanic complex on Earth, which probably makes its myriad of slick, black, basaltic landscapes the closest analogue we have to what the Venusian surface looks like.
The landscape surrounding Kīlauea also offers a glimpse of what landscapes look like on other volcanically active bodies in our solar system - most notably, Jupiter's moon Io. This is especially true when Kīlauea is erupting, as Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system. Witnessing the red-orange lava of Kīlauea coat over the terrain in the dark of night is possibly the closest analogue we have to the experience of an Io vista. That is, sans the view of Jupiter hanging in the sky instead of our moon.
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4. Mauna Kea & Haleakala, Hawaii
Hawaii might be best known for its waterfalls and beaches, but it is also home to some pretty harsh, otherworldly landscapes.
NASA has taken notice, using Mauna Kea and Haleakala mountains as testing sites for rover technology. In fact, early results from the Curiosity rover currently exploring Mars has shown that the soil composition from the Red Planet is eerily similar to soil found in Hawaii.
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5. Etosha pan, Namibia
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has long been considered a leading candidate for extra-terrestrial life, in part because of the similarities it shares with early Earth models in its geology and atmosphere. For instance, Titan is the only object other than Earth that showcases clear evidence of stable bodies of liquid on its surface. The only catch? The liquid is not water. Titan is covered in hydrocarbon seas.
One of Titan's largest hydrocarbon lakes is called Ontario Lacus, which is comparable in size to our Great Lakes. A recent flyover by the NASA Cassini spacecraft found that the lake is extremely shallow, and likely resembles and behaves like a salt pan here on Earth. Perhaps the most astute comparison is the Etosha pan in Namibia.
While the environment of Titan is far different from that of the Etosha pan in composition, the appearance and behaviour of Ontario Lacus ought to be similar to its Earth analogue. Of course, as a vacationer you'll appreciate the distinction. You can enjoy the scenery without having to worry about a toxic atmosphere!
Related Link: The 10 most pristine places on Earth: Namibia
6. Deep sea hydrothermal vents
Saturn's moon Europa and Jupiter's moon Enceladus are believed to contain liquid oceans underneath their icy crusts, and since these moons are also believed to be seismically and volcanically active, their seafloors probably look a lot like deep sea hydrothermal vents found on the seafloor right here on Earth. In fact, the discovery of chemotrophic organisms living at these deep-sea hydrothermal vents might even offer a unique glimpse at how life might have developed on these moons. Studying these life-forms could therefore be the closest analogue we have on Earth to being able to study real aliens.
7. Teide National Park, Canary Islands
Photo: sanderovski/Flickr
You could trade a photo from Teide National Park with one from Mars and you might not notice a difference. Many of the landscapes from Teide, which is located in Spain's Canary Islands, make for a perfect analogue for the Red Planet. In fact, in 2010 a research team went here to test an instrument that will be part of the next scheduled mission to Mars, ExoMars, which will be intended to search for biosignatures on the planet.
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8. Atacama Desert, Chile
Photo: Danielle Pereira/Flickr
In the parched shadow of the Andes mountain range sits Chile's Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth. This desolate landscape is freckled with stubborn salt lakes, sand dunes and lava flows, and is an ideal analogue for Mars. The fact that life can still be found here makes it an important location for studying how life might also have survived in the arid soils of the Red Planet.
In fact, rovers have been tested in Atacama to see if their instruments can detect the microbial life that exists there, before they are rocketed off to Mars.
9. The Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Photo: brookpeterson/Flickr
The Dry Valleys is one of the most extreme places in the world. It is so bone-dry, and experiences such little precipitation, that snow doesn't even collect here. The air is also bone-cold, and the wind chill is merciless; katabatic winds can race through these valleys at 200 mph. Despite these harsh conditions, though, space scientists still flock here because the Dry Valleys might represent the closest analogue we have on Earth to the dry, cold, windswept plains of Mars.
And even more promising: Somehow, even in this barren place, life exists. It may seem counterintuitive, but the Dry Valleys also contain Antarctica's longest river, the Onyx. This trickle of a river offers a glimpse of how flowing water, no matter how scarce, can become a habitat for rugged organisms in the harshest of places. There are no fish in the Onyx, but there are microorganisms and algal blooms. Scientists hope that by studying these life-forms, they might get a glimpse of how life survives on other planets.
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10. Lake Vostok, Antarctica
Lake Vostok is the largest sub-glacial lake on Antarctica. It is unique in that the lake's liquid water surface has been trapped underneath 13,000 feet of glacial ice for at least 15 million to 25 million years. Scientists thus believe that ancient extremophile microbes found here could provide analogues to how life might thrive on Jupiter's moon Europa or on Saturn's moon Enceladus, which are both also believed to contain liquid water oceans underneath their icy surfaces. (To see the location of Lake Vostok in relation to Antarctica, check out NASA's animation here.)
Russian researchers drilled to the lake's surface for the first time in February 2012, though the full experimental results from water samples are still pending. The entire process should offer invaluable clues about how similar technology might be used to explore Europa.
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