NASA scientists worked into the night at sites near Estacion Yungay in the Atacama Desert.
NASA scientists worked into the night at sites near Estacion Yungay in the Atacama Desert.
The Atacama Rover Astrobiology Drilling Studies project has just completed its first deployment after one month of fieldwork in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert, the “driest place on Earth.” Despite being considerably warmer than Mars, the extreme dryness the soil chemistry in this region are remarkably similar to that of the Red Planet. This provides scientists with a Mars-like laboratory where they can study the limits of life and test drilling and life-detection technologies that might be sent to Mars in the future.
Read more: NASA Tests Life-Detection Drill in Earth’s Driest Place
More photos of the ARADS team in the Atacama: