Featured Image Credit: NASA
Topics: NASA, Science, Space, Mars, Social Media
Niamh Shackleton
It turns out Mars and Earth have more in common than some might have expected.
Earlier this month, NASA's Perseverance rover discovered 'potentially habitable conditions' on the Red Planet.
Perseverance left Earth back in 2020 and landed on Mars in February the following year.
Scientists have since been looking closely at the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater.
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"The delta deposits in Jezero crater contain sedimentary records of potentially habitable conditions on Mars," part of the recent study revealed.
"From orbit we can see a bunch of different deposits, but we can't tell for sure if what we're seeing is their original state, or if we're seeing the conclusion of a long geological story," planetary scientist David Paige, from the University of California, Los Angeles, went on.
Perseverance has been taking images and footage of Mars while exploring the planet and sending them back down to Earth.
In some images recently acquired by NASA and shared to its website, you'll notice that some parts of Mars don't actually look that different to Earth.
There are over 70 deserts on our planet, some of which have uncanny resemblances to the Red Planet.
Footage of Mars has been shared on social media of late, and some people voiced their thoughts on it looking similar to some parts of Earth.
"NASA has a satellite in Mars and mars looks just like earth…..aliens in the mall in Miami…..only a matter of time and that’s all imma say [sic]," one person wrote last month.
"Looks like Egypt," said another, while a different person compared it to Arizona.
Someone else went on: "Looks very much like parts of planet Earth!"
Well, Mars actually has quite a lot in common with Earth.
Both planets have around a 24 hour day, season weather patterns, and the likes of volcanoes and canyons.
Some people might hope that Perseverance is on Mars in a bid to find life on the planet, but it's actually there to find signs of any former life.
"Scientists don't expect to find living things currently thriving on Mars," states NASA's website.
"Instead, they're looking for signs of life that existed long ago, when Mars was warmer and covered with water."
While we're not expecting to move over to Mars to set up shop anytime soon, some astronauts at NASA are currently living in a Mars simulation.
The CHAPEA A (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) crew - made up of four people - are doing the experiment in Texas, which began in June 2023.
The team will be living in the simulation for a whole 378 days.
In a statement released at the start of the experiment, NASA said: "We’re really looking at how the crew performance and health changes based on realistic Mars restrictions and lifestyle of the crew members.
"So the lifestyle is what we’re trying to simulate by setting up a realistic environment and workload for the CHAPEA crew.”