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CNN Live Saturday

Scientists Simulate Mars Landscape Near Arctic Circle

Aired July 14, 2001 - 15:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Life on Mars: People have fantasized about it, and now scientists plan to simulate it here on Earth. They plan to do it on a remote Canadian island north of the Arctic Circle and CNN plans to be there. Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien and producer Linda Sather are now en route to Resolute Bay in the Northwest Territories and from there they will travel to an island and it is there that the two separate camps are set up in a barren crater.

Right now on their way, Miles and Linda are in Ottawa and we want to check in with them and see if they can bring us a little bit more up to date on what we can expect -- hi, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Donna, how are you? In order to get to Mars you need to go through Ottawa, I guess.

KELLEY: Yes, we didn't know that was the route. What are scientists hoping to learn?

O'BRIEN: As it turns out, this place, Devon Island, which happens to be the largest uninhabited island on the planet, has a lot of things that look like Mars on it. It's very cold, it's very dry, and seemingly, I emphasize seemingly, lifeless. As a matter of fact, if you looked at some of the images of this place, if you added a little sepia tone to it, you probably would say that was a picture that was shot by the Viking lander 25 years ago, or maybe Pathfinder a few years ago.

It's a very interesting place for scientists because it gives them an opportunity to see just how you might conduct science on the red planet some day. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if you don't do this groundwork here on Earth you're never going to be able to do anything on Mars.

KELLEY: You say it's cold and it's dry but they think they may have found some evidence of frozen precipitation on Mars don't they?

O'BRIEN: Yes, as a matter of fact, there is a growing body of evidence, Donna, that there is an active under ground aquifer on Mars and that the water actually comes to the surface and remains in liquid form for a period of time. A lot of scientists didn't think this was possible because of the fact that the atmosphere of Mars is so very thin that many people thought it was sort of like dry ice, that the water sublimated, became gas right away. That's a very exciting prospect because anywhere you look for life on this planet, you will find water nearby. Follow the water and you'll learn the question, the big question, was or perhaps is there life on Mars

KELLEY: Miles, how long are they going to stay and are they going to do spacewalks and things like that?

O'BRIEN: This is the kind of interesting thing about this. First of all, of course a lot of this is weather permitting, but the season is very short up there. We are talking about a 6-8 week attempt to set up a Mars encampment there, complete with a habitat module that would be not unlike the confines of a space ship.

And the crew members inside this habitat literally don a space suit every time they step outside to do their work. So if their pounding on rocks, they are pounding on rocks inside the confines of that suit, learning a lot about what it really would take to get through a Martian work day. You know we take a lot for granted about just moving around. Imagine trying to be a geologist and hiking through this rough terrain wearing one of these bulky suits.

KELLEY: Yes, I'll tell you. And it's cold up there, right? Is it cold currently? Do they have a different season?

O'BRIEN: Well, you know, it's relatively balmy this time of year, between 20 and 60 Fahrenheit, so you've got to pack a lot of things. We will be camped out in a tent because as I said it's completely uninhabited. We are hoping for good weather. They say the week we have picked is the best of the year, if you had to pick a week. But you never know, one day it can be a blizzard, the next day it can be rather pleasant. And either way, we will never see the sunset while we are up there.

KELLEY: OK, well Linda Sather, our space producer is along with you, Miles O'brien, so we will look for your reports all next week. Thanks a bunch.

O'BRIEN: My pleasure, thank you, Donna.

KELLEY: Have a safe time.

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