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- Title
Space exploration: Secrets of the martian soil.
- Authors
Wu, Corinna
- Abstract
The article presents a study on Martian soil. Two Viking probes took out soil samples from their landing sites using the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometers (GC-MS), an instruments designed to detect evidence of organic compounds in the soil. The Viking landers carried a suite of three experiments designed to detect microorganisms in the dust and sand at the landing sites. When the Martian soil was watered and fed nutrients, it gave off gases which might be consistent with biological activity. The Viking GC-MS team was led by Klaus Biemann, a chemistry professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts. On the other hand, a new mission was also launched, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA's) Phoenix mission.
- Subjects
UNITED States; MARTIAN exploration; SOIL science; VIKING Mars Program (U.S.); MARS probes; GAS chromatography equipment; MASS spectrometers; BIEMANN, Klaus; MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology; PROJECT PHOENIX; UNITED States. National Aeronautics &; Space Administration
- Publication
Nature, 2007, Vol 448, Issue 7155, p742
- ISSN
0028-0836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/448742a