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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Denton Ebel
Aired January 25, 2004 - 08:15 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.
JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: In Pasadena, California, geeks cheering all around at the jet propulsion lab. Elation, as NASA's second Mars rover, Opportunity, makes a successful landing. Opportunity unpacked itself, then began transmitting images of its surroundings. The second rover is on the opposite side of Mars from its now on the blink twin, Spirit.
The twin rover project is engineered to have one rover transmit when the other cannot. But just what are they after?
Joining us now from new York is Denton Ebel, a geologist by training, and assistant curator of media rights at the American Museum of Natural History.
Thanks so much for joining us.
DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good to be with you.
CARROLL: Thanks. So tell us by just starting off, what is Opportunity looking for that Spirit didn't find?
EBEL: Well, it's in a totally different place on Mars. And as you can see from the pictures we already have, it's gray hematite land. And it's a different place, different kind of landscape. Two different kinds of geologic formations already identified. We'll see.
CARROLL: Well, wait. Let me stop you right there. What is gray hematite? What is that?
EBEL: Well, it's an iron oxide mineral that on Earth is usually associated with water, with the flow of water.
CARROLL: OK. All right, got you. Well, you know, you were explaining a little bit about the differences in where Spirit landed as opposed to Opportunity. Tell me a little bit more about what they expect to find in this new location.
EBEL: They expect to find minerological evidence for water and evidence for how much water, when water flowed there, and hopefully whether the water might have been associated with microbial life.
CARROLL: And put that in perspective for us. Why is that important?
CARROLL: Well, everything we learn about Mars is a little piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle. And this rover, landing in a totally different place, gives us a whole other set of pieces. Potentially, we hope that, of course, that Spirit will give us a lot more pieces down the road, as well.
And these pieces are just part of our picture of Mars. And we're learning about another planet. The way we learn about Earth is through its rocks on the surface of Earth, and in the deeper parts of the earth. The same thing is true of Mars.
CARROLL: You know, I find all this fascinating, but it seems as if -- in terms of the general public -- there are a lot of people who just don't seem to be as interested in this. And I'm wondering if that's because do you think, in some way, our society has become so inundated with all of these science fiction images from movies and whatnot, it really takes a spectacular image to get people excited?
I mean, I was talking to one person who said, "Oh, it just looks like a red desert. Big deal."
EBEL: Well, don't get off the plane, right?
CARROLL: Right.
EBEL: Well, it is desert. It's a lot different than Earth. That's for sure.
If humans are ever going to go to Mars, this is the kind of data to learn where water is that we'd use as a resource, for example. And humans have explored the surface of the Earth. We've flown through our atmosphere, and we're growing out into space. This is, in many people's view, is the future of the humans as a species.
CARROLL: Is it really worth spending billions of dollars, do you think?
EBEL: Well, I'd say that this particular mission is very inexpensive by most...
CARROLL: Inexpensive?
EBEL: Well, this is all relative. These are public policy questions that accountants and politicians will debate. And I hope it's a very healthy debate, and that people's dreams and visions come into play when we talk about these kinds of missions.
CARROLL: How soon do you think we'll be able to draw any new conclusions based on what Opportunity finds?
EBEL: That I'm not going to speculate about, because, after all, this is an engineering question, and this is a great day for NASA. After all, this is only the fifth lander ever to land on Mars. It's the third rover in history. It's landed successfully after Spirit also landed successfully. And today, we learn that Spirit is, in fact, on its way back to health.
So this is a great day for engineers that have worked so hard for many years on these projects. And I'm just really happy for them. And for the fact that we're going to get great data. We don't know what we're going to find.
CARROLL: Well, if either one of those rovers finds signs of life it will be the story of all stories. That's for sure.
EBEL: That will be the story of all stories.
CARROLL: Absolutely. Thanks very much, Denton Ebel. Thanks again for joining us.
EBEL: Thanks, Jason.
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 25, 2004 - 08:15 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JASON CARROLL, CNN ANCHOR: In Pasadena, California, geeks cheering all around at the jet propulsion lab. Elation, as NASA's second Mars rover, Opportunity, makes a successful landing. Opportunity unpacked itself, then began transmitting images of its surroundings. The second rover is on the opposite side of Mars from its now on the blink twin, Spirit.
The twin rover project is engineered to have one rover transmit when the other cannot. But just what are they after?
Joining us now from new York is Denton Ebel, a geologist by training, and assistant curator of media rights at the American Museum of Natural History.
Thanks so much for joining us.
DENTON EBEL, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY: Good to be with you.
CARROLL: Thanks. So tell us by just starting off, what is Opportunity looking for that Spirit didn't find?
EBEL: Well, it's in a totally different place on Mars. And as you can see from the pictures we already have, it's gray hematite land. And it's a different place, different kind of landscape. Two different kinds of geologic formations already identified. We'll see.
CARROLL: Well, wait. Let me stop you right there. What is gray hematite? What is that?
EBEL: Well, it's an iron oxide mineral that on Earth is usually associated with water, with the flow of water.
CARROLL: OK. All right, got you. Well, you know, you were explaining a little bit about the differences in where Spirit landed as opposed to Opportunity. Tell me a little bit more about what they expect to find in this new location.
EBEL: They expect to find minerological evidence for water and evidence for how much water, when water flowed there, and hopefully whether the water might have been associated with microbial life.
CARROLL: And put that in perspective for us. Why is that important?
CARROLL: Well, everything we learn about Mars is a little piece of a giant jigsaw puzzle. And this rover, landing in a totally different place, gives us a whole other set of pieces. Potentially, we hope that, of course, that Spirit will give us a lot more pieces down the road, as well.
And these pieces are just part of our picture of Mars. And we're learning about another planet. The way we learn about Earth is through its rocks on the surface of Earth, and in the deeper parts of the earth. The same thing is true of Mars.
CARROLL: You know, I find all this fascinating, but it seems as if -- in terms of the general public -- there are a lot of people who just don't seem to be as interested in this. And I'm wondering if that's because do you think, in some way, our society has become so inundated with all of these science fiction images from movies and whatnot, it really takes a spectacular image to get people excited?
I mean, I was talking to one person who said, "Oh, it just looks like a red desert. Big deal."
EBEL: Well, don't get off the plane, right?
CARROLL: Right.
EBEL: Well, it is desert. It's a lot different than Earth. That's for sure.
If humans are ever going to go to Mars, this is the kind of data to learn where water is that we'd use as a resource, for example. And humans have explored the surface of the Earth. We've flown through our atmosphere, and we're growing out into space. This is, in many people's view, is the future of the humans as a species.
CARROLL: Is it really worth spending billions of dollars, do you think?
EBEL: Well, I'd say that this particular mission is very inexpensive by most...
CARROLL: Inexpensive?
EBEL: Well, this is all relative. These are public policy questions that accountants and politicians will debate. And I hope it's a very healthy debate, and that people's dreams and visions come into play when we talk about these kinds of missions.
CARROLL: How soon do you think we'll be able to draw any new conclusions based on what Opportunity finds?
EBEL: That I'm not going to speculate about, because, after all, this is an engineering question, and this is a great day for NASA. After all, this is only the fifth lander ever to land on Mars. It's the third rover in history. It's landed successfully after Spirit also landed successfully. And today, we learn that Spirit is, in fact, on its way back to health.
So this is a great day for engineers that have worked so hard for many years on these projects. And I'm just really happy for them. And for the fact that we're going to get great data. We don't know what we're going to find.
CARROLL: Well, if either one of those rovers finds signs of life it will be the story of all stories. That's for sure.
EBEL: That will be the story of all stories.
CARROLL: Absolutely. Thanks very much, Denton Ebel. Thanks again for joining us.
EBEL: Thanks, Jason.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
