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American Morning

New View of Mars

Aired January 28, 2004 - 07:51   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: NASA is getting a new and extraordinary view of Mars. It is the first look at bedrock on the red planet, and scientists are very excited.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SOUYRES, MARS CHIEF SCIENTIST: We are about to embark on what is arguably going to be the coolest geologic field trip in U.S. history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The new images were beamed from the Mars rover, Opportunity. Scientists say the bedrock could mean the spacecraft's landing site was once wet enough to sustain life.

Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History here in New York joins us to talk about these latest breathtaking photos.

What's so amazing about these latest photos? What can be seen that makes the scientists -- I mean, they are practically cheering as they speak.

MICHAEL SHARA, ASTROPHYSICIST: It's incredible luck, because having landed inside a small crater, nature has done an excavation job for us. She has managed to pull away a lot of the surface dirt and show the rocks that are down at the bottom. And those rocks are going to be examined really carefully by the rover in the coming days to see just what it's made of, to see whether it's anything like the rocks here on earth that indicate the presence of water.

O'BRIEN: How exactly does the rover do that? What does it have on board? What's the equipment that it can do that with?

SHARA: There is some really cool stuff that walks over to one of the rocks, bounces particles, x-rays, alpha particles, off the atoms inside those rocks, and waits for the information that comes back in the form of other x-rays or florescence radiation. So, they're really tapping the rock on the head and looking for its reaction. What are you made of is what we're asking it. And then the answer tells us what kind of rock it is.

O'BRIEN: I know often scientists go into that question, what are you made of, with an assumption. They think they know what's it's made of. What do they think is out there?

SHARA: Well, there are two kinds of rocks that we actually have here in the studio, which are rather similar to the rocks we see in space. One is this reddish rock that I've got, which is a hematite. It's got a lot of iron and oxygen in it. And this kind of rock usually gets set down by water processes -- that is, various layers of rock laid on top of each other.

And this one is a lava rock. The rock on the outside is very much like the lava rock in your barbecue. But the green stuff inside is olivine, and that's rock that's usually made or crystal is usually made inside of volcanoes.

O'BRIEN: So, is the expectation that something like this or something very close to this is exactly what's going to be found on Mars?

SHARA: We've already found olivine on Mars. This is there. There is no question about it. And it's almost certain that a lot of the reddish color of Mars comes from this kind of rock right here. Now, depending on the other kinds of crystals that are found next to these, we're going to have a really strong clue, or a set of clues, as to whether water set these rocks in place.

O'BRIEN: When everybody talks about water being on the planet, are they really saying life? I mean, essentially water is what you'd need for life. And so, if there is water, there's a good chance there was life.

SHARA: Exactly. If you've got lots of water there, then there's a fine chance of getting life going, but that's not proof. And it is possible that we'll find lots of water rocks, rocks that had to have been made in water, but no trace of life. It could happen. Unlikely. And if that's true, then that means that life is very rare in the universe, because it didn't get going next to earth, on the next planet over, where conditions were similar. On the other hand, if we find even very simple, very primitive forms of life that existed in the past, then life is probably very common in the universe.

O'BRIEN: Well, scientists are obviously thrilled at what they've gotten so quickly, really, from Opportunity. What about Spirit? What's the status on that? Many people, of course, are very concerned that 19 days in that was all they were going to get of this three- month mission.

SHARA: That's right. And it really is being brought back almost from the dead, checking very carefully system by system to see what's gone wrong. The engineers, the folks at JPL, have done a remarkable job of resuscitating it. And I think that we're all pretty confident that in a couple of weeks it's going to be up and running and giving us great data again.

O'BRIEN: Michael Shara, nice to have you. Thanks for being with us. It's so exciting.

SHARA: We're really looking forward to more great stuff.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And in addition to scientists, I think people really across the nation have just been thrilled (UNINTELLIGIBLE). SHARA: It has been terrific. And I do want to leave you with this small gift.

O'BRIEN: What do I do with these?

SHARA: They're red-green glasses. You put them on, and when you look at the pictures coming back from Mars, the 3-D pictures...

O'BRIEN: I can match them up?

SHARA: ... you can match them up and you can see everything in 3-D.

O'BRIEN: Cool! I like it. Thanks for the give, Michael. Appreciate it.

SHARA: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.







Aired January 28, 2004 - 07:51   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: NASA is getting a new and extraordinary view of Mars. It is the first look at bedrock on the red planet, and scientists are very excited.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE SOUYRES, MARS CHIEF SCIENTIST: We are about to embark on what is arguably going to be the coolest geologic field trip in U.S. history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: The new images were beamed from the Mars rover, Opportunity. Scientists say the bedrock could mean the spacecraft's landing site was once wet enough to sustain life.

Michael Shara of the American Museum of Natural History here in New York joins us to talk about these latest breathtaking photos.

What's so amazing about these latest photos? What can be seen that makes the scientists -- I mean, they are practically cheering as they speak.

MICHAEL SHARA, ASTROPHYSICIST: It's incredible luck, because having landed inside a small crater, nature has done an excavation job for us. She has managed to pull away a lot of the surface dirt and show the rocks that are down at the bottom. And those rocks are going to be examined really carefully by the rover in the coming days to see just what it's made of, to see whether it's anything like the rocks here on earth that indicate the presence of water.

O'BRIEN: How exactly does the rover do that? What does it have on board? What's the equipment that it can do that with?

SHARA: There is some really cool stuff that walks over to one of the rocks, bounces particles, x-rays, alpha particles, off the atoms inside those rocks, and waits for the information that comes back in the form of other x-rays or florescence radiation. So, they're really tapping the rock on the head and looking for its reaction. What are you made of is what we're asking it. And then the answer tells us what kind of rock it is.

O'BRIEN: I know often scientists go into that question, what are you made of, with an assumption. They think they know what's it's made of. What do they think is out there?

SHARA: Well, there are two kinds of rocks that we actually have here in the studio, which are rather similar to the rocks we see in space. One is this reddish rock that I've got, which is a hematite. It's got a lot of iron and oxygen in it. And this kind of rock usually gets set down by water processes -- that is, various layers of rock laid on top of each other.

And this one is a lava rock. The rock on the outside is very much like the lava rock in your barbecue. But the green stuff inside is olivine, and that's rock that's usually made or crystal is usually made inside of volcanoes.

O'BRIEN: So, is the expectation that something like this or something very close to this is exactly what's going to be found on Mars?

SHARA: We've already found olivine on Mars. This is there. There is no question about it. And it's almost certain that a lot of the reddish color of Mars comes from this kind of rock right here. Now, depending on the other kinds of crystals that are found next to these, we're going to have a really strong clue, or a set of clues, as to whether water set these rocks in place.

O'BRIEN: When everybody talks about water being on the planet, are they really saying life? I mean, essentially water is what you'd need for life. And so, if there is water, there's a good chance there was life.

SHARA: Exactly. If you've got lots of water there, then there's a fine chance of getting life going, but that's not proof. And it is possible that we'll find lots of water rocks, rocks that had to have been made in water, but no trace of life. It could happen. Unlikely. And if that's true, then that means that life is very rare in the universe, because it didn't get going next to earth, on the next planet over, where conditions were similar. On the other hand, if we find even very simple, very primitive forms of life that existed in the past, then life is probably very common in the universe.

O'BRIEN: Well, scientists are obviously thrilled at what they've gotten so quickly, really, from Opportunity. What about Spirit? What's the status on that? Many people, of course, are very concerned that 19 days in that was all they were going to get of this three- month mission.

SHARA: That's right. And it really is being brought back almost from the dead, checking very carefully system by system to see what's gone wrong. The engineers, the folks at JPL, have done a remarkable job of resuscitating it. And I think that we're all pretty confident that in a couple of weeks it's going to be up and running and giving us great data again.

O'BRIEN: Michael Shara, nice to have you. Thanks for being with us. It's so exciting.

SHARA: We're really looking forward to more great stuff.

O'BRIEN: Yes. And in addition to scientists, I think people really across the nation have just been thrilled (UNINTELLIGIBLE). SHARA: It has been terrific. And I do want to leave you with this small gift.

O'BRIEN: What do I do with these?

SHARA: They're red-green glasses. You put them on, and when you look at the pictures coming back from Mars, the 3-D pictures...

O'BRIEN: I can match them up?

SHARA: ... you can match them up and you can see everything in 3-D.

O'BRIEN: Cool! I like it. Thanks for the give, Michael. Appreciate it.

SHARA: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.