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CNN Live At Daybreak

Does Earth Hold Answers to Living on Mars?

Aired July 20, 2001 - 11:20   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: You ever stop to think what life might be like on another planet? Well, our planet may hold some answers to what living on Mars may be like. Scientists are doing extensive research on Devon Island, Canada, where the terrain is very similar to the Red Planet -- or so the scientists believe.

Our space correspondent is there. He joins us now from his Arctic Circle base camp.

Good morning, Miles O'Brien. Or is it Mars O'Brien?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon Harris, and all other Earthlings. I appreciate you coming to visit us here at Mars in the midst of this ambitious field campaign here.

Several dozen scientists are a part of this process of coming to this place and trying to see how it might relate to future experiments on the real thing.

And joining me right here on the other side of this ATV -- which, incidentally, is the preferred mode of transit here in the land of Devon -- is Peter Smith, who is the man responsible for those pictures you saw from the Pathfinder mission in 1997. He's with the University of Arizona. He also had a camera on board the Mars Polar Lander.

Peter -- take a look at me over here. Come back to me. There you are.

Tell me, first of all -- there goes the ATV.

Tell me, what brings you here? What are you going to be able to learn about here?

PETER SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: Well, Miles, we're testing our cameras that we send to Mars. We have three different types of cameras we wanted to test: one that takes a panoramic view; one that is on a robotic arm and can look inside of trenches as the arm can dig; and the other is a microscope.

O'BRIEN: All right. Well, I'll tell you what. Let's take a look at some of the pictures we've been shooting over the past couple of days. We had a tremendous aerial tour of this 60,000 square mile island the size of West Virginia -- not a soul living here -- very few plants, very few signs of life. And much of what you see there -- thee valleys in particular, Peter -- are very reminiscent of the Mars Global Surveyor pictures, for example. But do the similarities hold well enough for you to refine what you do, as a person who designs cameras?

SMITH: Oh yes, absolutely.

One of the big mysteries when we took pictures at the Pathfinder site was, you could see rocks around the lander, but you weren't too sure what they were. In fact, some of the rocks looked a lot like this one. And what we can find here is that this is an old piece of coral. In fact, the whole area we're standing on used to be a great barrier reef in the Silurian period. So this is just the kind of rocks we'd love to find on Mars. And we want to get familiar with get rocks of this type.

O'BRIEN: All right. And the other -- of course, the other thing about your business is, it's a risky business. You learned that the hard way with the Mars Polar Lander. Since that time, what have you been planning? What's ahead for Mars exploration? Are you relatively optimistic that the robotic missions that lie ahead have a good chance of succeeding?

SMITH: Absolutely. There is a very exciting mission with two rovers that is launched in 2003 and will go to Mars later that year and explore quite a large area -- I guess two different places. And they have panoramic cameras. And, personally, I'm looking to propose for an orbiter camera in the 2005 mission.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's take a look off our shoulders just briefly here, before we send this back to Atlanta.

And as you take a look at that image kind of over our shoulder there, Peter, it wouldn't take much of a color correction to make it look like an image that your camera gathered on Pathfinder a few years ago.

SMITH: That is absolutely right. The hills aren't quite the same color. And the sky definitely wasn't blue on Mars. But this is very much the kind of landscape you would find on Mars.

O'BRIEN: And so when you come out here with your cameras and you do the testing, it holds pretty well for the real thing.

SMITH: That's true.

And a lot of what we want to look at is the rock types. So this is an ideal place. It's unvegetated. The rocks are interesting. And the landscapes are awesome.

O'BRIEN: And, of curse, we all have our camp dog there that is here to help us out and keep the polar bears at bay, we are told. And that is obviously a very important aspect of this camp. It's something you don't have to worry about on Mars.

Peter, I know this is your first visit here. How does it compare to your expectations of the place? And do you sort of kind of get the sense that this could be what it would be like somewhat to be on the surface of Mars?

SMITH: Well, I do get that sense. It's not easy to get here, as you know. It took me a day and a half to get up here. And I have never been in a place like this in my life. And I've traveled extensively. It's really an unusual site. It is very much like I imagine Mars, having seen it from many pictures.

And I think this is the right place to be if you want to simulate being on Mars.

O'BRIEN: All right -- the closest we can get to Mars, at least for now.

Peter Smith, with the University of Arizona, of Mars Pathfinder and Mars Polar Lander fame, will be joining me in just a few moments on the Web -- CNN.com. We'll have a little Webcast. And we are going to be entertaining your questions. So meet us there -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right. Good deal.

Thanks, Miles O'Brien. We will see you later on.

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