What are the differences and similarities between the planet Mars and Earth? Has there ever been a form of life on the red planet? This is the whole point of the new Explore Mars exhibition, to be discovered from Saturday until 1is next June at the Jurassica Museum in Porrentruy, which will highlight all the particularities of the planet Mars as well as the research currently carried out on them.
Exploring the planet Mars, where water flowed
“What we know is that conditions there were roughly similar to those on Earth three or four billion years ago. There was water, but then the atmosphere vaporized, torn away by the solar winds The water then vaporized in turn, leaving no possible form of life”, summarizes Gaël Comment, scientific collaborator in charge of the museum’s exhibitions.
Different experiments, scheduled on around ten dates throughout the exhibition period, illustrate the differences between Earth and Mars in a very fun way. Entitled Labo Mars, this workshop will be children’s favorite playground. Other events linked to the exhibition are also on the program.
Gaël Comment points out that it is today possible to find a form of fossil life, in underground water or in the form of ice. “That’s what the current research is for.”
Rovers to search for traces of life
This is why different rovers – vehicles designed to explore the surface of another planet – have been sent to Mars several times. These can be discovered in the second part of the exhibition, on the ground floor of the museum, which will also be renovated in the future. “We call them ‘rovers’ because they move while rolling. They are all represented here life-size,” explains Patrice Cardonne, scientific mediator of the exhibition.
