The latest news from the red planet is that it is a very cold and hard place, more so than previously thought. As a result, expectations that signs of life may exist close to the surface have all gone deep underground. According to the scientists, as a result of hard surface, liquid water may exist much deeper under the Martian crust than the current estimations.

This view was partially confirmed by the Mars reconnaissance orbiter, which confirmed the hardness of the Martian surface. The shallow radar on the orbiter clearly showed the Martian ice cap to be resting on the crust smoothly. On the earth, the crust sags gently under the weight of the ice caps, so this only confirms that the Martian lithosphere – the other crust is actually quite hard.

Although such a hard crust implies that liquid water may not be located at the surface, it seems likely that it will be found deeper within the surface. For the thick lithosphere implies that temperature deep within the planet is warm, warm enough to contain liquid water. Currently, the NASA’s Phoenix Lander is scheduled to land on Mars, near the Mars northern pole cap around the 25th of May. One of its main functions on Mars would be to dig around the pole cap for any evidence of water and its flow on the red planet. The entry point for the Phoenix would be at 13,000 mph and it’s landing would be closely monitored. But given the fact that not many spacecrafts have had a successful landing on the red planet, all fingers are crossed at NASA that it goes off without a hitch.

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Humanity has been fascinated by the heavens and the stars for time immemorial, that is a given. And while in the past we have pondered on the existence of gods and heavenly beings, the recent fascination by Man as a whole on the existence of life elsewhere seems to have taken center stage.

With the recent discovery by the Mars rovers that water had flowed in abundance in recent past on the Martian soil, seems to have heightened the debate on extraterrestrial life. To assume that we are the only sentient beings in the Universe is a bit rich, even egoistic of us. The fact of the matter is if life can exist on Earth, it can exist on other planets as long as they fall in the ‘goldilocks range’. That is, not too hot, not too cold, just perfect enough to allow life to take shape, as it did on earth.

The Star trek series epitomizes mankind’s curiosity about alien life more than anything else. In retrospect, we have all wondered at some point or other, if the aliens are going to land in our backyard. There is no simple answer to this conundrum, but it is one that will be solved sooner than later, given the advancements that NASA seems to be making in that direction. One of the most effective ways for searching for any signs of alien life form or technology is by way of radio telescope. In spite of the wide range of such telescopes, we have managed to map only a small part of the heavens. For the moment, the rest remains unexplored, it is the final frontier and one that may well answer the everlasting question – are we alone?

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