What Will NASA’s Mars Maven Find on Mars?
Nasa’s newest robotic explorer rocketed toward Mars on November 18. The Maven explorer is on a quest to unravel an ancient mystery. Why has the red planet’s climate changed so radically?
The spacecraft is due reach Mars next autumn, following a journey of more than 440 million miles.
Scientists think that Mars used to have large bodies of water and a much warmer climate. They think it may originally have been capable of supporting life. They want to know why Mars is now an utterly dry wasteland.
To help solve this puzzle, Maven will spend an entire Earth-year measuring atmospheric gases once it reaches Mars on September 22, 2014.
Unlike the 2011-launched Curiosity rover, Maven will conduct its experiments from orbit around Mars.
It will dip as low as 78 miles above the Martian surface, sampling the atmosphere.
This is nasa’s 21st mission to Mars since the 1960s. But so far, proof of life has been elusive.
SOUNDBITE: Michael Meyer, lead Mars Scientist at nasa
“It’s only a little over 50 years ago that we first sent a planetary probe into space to move from just myth and fable to actually observation and measurements. So, we now have evidence with other measurements showing that there was water flowing on the surface of Mars. We know that it was, the environment at one point in time on Mars was able to support microbial life. But, you look at the Mars today, its cold, its dry. We want to know what happened.”
SOUNDBITE: Bruce Jakosky, Maven Principle Investigator
“Something clearly happened, water was abundant on early Mars, the environment was capable of supporting liquid water. Yet today, we see a cold, dry planet that is not able to support water. What we want to do is to understand what are the reasons for that change in the climate.”
Previous missions to Mars focused around finding life on the planet. The shift to trying to understand why Mars has become desolate is a step in the right direction.
Yet, if scientists would only look to the Bible for answers, they would know why Mars is in such a state of decay.
The Bible reveals that many years ago, perhaps millions of years ago, there was a war in the universe (Revelation 12:7). Lucifer and one third of the angels rebelled against God.
It was the most destructive war ever, leaving Mars and apparently the rest of the universe in a state of decay!
Two Bible chapters, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, give many of the details leading up to that war.
But as hard as it might be to believe, that war is the very reason you were created!
In a 2004 article titled “Mars Reveals Your Universe Potential!” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry writes: “Why do our scientists want to reach Mars? It keeps getting back to one overall question: ‘Is there life on Mars?’”
“But they are asking the wrong question!” Mr. Flurry continues. “They should ask, ‘Why is mars and the universe there?’”
As Gerald Flurry brings out in that article, the Bible reveals that mankind is destined to remove that decay from Mars and the entire universe! It is mankind’s job to make the universe look like the Garden of Eden! That is man’s destiny—and you can prove it from the Bible.
For biblical proof that man’s ultimate destiny includes bringing life to Mars and the entire universe, request a free copy of Herbert W. Armstrong’s books, The Incredible Human Potential and Our Awesome Universe Potential, by Joel Hilliker.
