Today, most of the great mysteries that exist about Mars are concentrated in the same place: the caves and tunnels that were found long ago throughout the planet. For this reason, NASA has an idea to discover what is inside.
The plans for the conquest of Mars are ambitious. As we have already told you before, humanity wants to colonize the planet and establish communities that live there. To achieve this, there are several plans on the table, but right now what specialists want to prioritize is to discover what is in the Martian caves.
Tunnels with mystery
The idea that could most seduce NASA in this exploration objective is the use of a new helicopter that can move through tunnels formed by lava. This type of ship could move easily inside and carry out different analysis processes that would allow scientists to see directly what may be hiding inside them.
Because, although the tone may seem typical of a science fiction series, there are those who believe that these tunnels and caves could be the key to discovering life on Mars. After all, this underground part of the planet provides protection from radiation. It is not absolute protection, but the level of radiation suffered in this space is much more reasonable and not as aggressive as that outside. Perhaps, yes, the life that can be discovered is only in the form of bacteria.
A mission with more objectives
In addition to trying to discover if there is “something” in the tunnels of Mars that could have life, whether intelligent or not, the objective goes beyond that. The tunnels could have organic molecules, remains from the planet’s past that reveal what life was like there in the past (if it ever existed), or even ice.
Having all this information will help confirm whether the plan to create residential structures inside the tubes is viable or not. This is the idea that is being considered and that many scientists believe is most appropriate when suggesting that, in the future, there may be communities of people living on Mars, but there is still a lack of real confirmation of its viability. The conditions would have to be good and, on the other hand, ensure that the astronauts who were there would be protected from all the dangers outside. These, as you can imagine, are not exactly few. The exterior of Mars exposes it to extreme conditions, unimaginable dust storms and the logical dangers of radiation that we have already mentioned.
The helicopter that would be sent would be smaller in size, so experts define it specifically as a MID (Martian Inspection Drone). However, its format and operation would be similar to the Ingenuity helicopter as published in a study that you can read here. The most important thing about this flying exploration vehicle would be that it would have a neural network that would provide it autonomy to be able to carry out exploration and analysis with simplicity.
Tunnels formed by lava were initially discovered in the 1970s and have since been lightly studied over the years. Its presence has not only been confirmed, but has become a pillar of the different theories about the past and origin of Mars. This is how it is known, at least under published theories, that Mars could have had life in the past, water on the surface and other elements that made the planet a radically different place than it is today.
For now the project is still far away, but this latest study opens many doors in terms of the concept that would be necessary to explore the caves with a new helicopter. We will have to wait to see how NASA acts and if they give priority to this plan or if they prefer to concentrate all their current resources on the Moon and leave Mars for a slightly later time.
