Cienciamiento

The planning of missions to Mars, as well as the optimal scientific exploitation of the huge amount of information those missions provide, need an appropriate contextualization that, obviously, is difficult to achieve without being there. Fortunately, researchers count on many places on Earth where there are some features, processes, environmental conditions etcetera similar enough to get reliable references: the Mars analogue sites. Atacama Desert and Mars landscapes. Credits: University of Texas and NASA respectively Mars is a preferential target within planetary science field, and some of the most sophisticated spacecrafts have been sent there for exploring in situ different areas of the planet, besides the fleet of orbiters observing from above. In the near future, some others will arrive to go into depth in the main scientific conundrums posed so far, especially the Martian liquid water issue and the assessment of the habitability of the plan