原创 Close-up photo of water on Mars

This raises the possibility that if life ever managed to claw its way up on Mars, then there may still be living organisms there now. If we were to detect life on another planet, this would dramatically change our perspective on... well, a lot of things, really.

The reason I'm waffling on about this here is that I was chatting with my chum Adam Taylor this morning. Adam never fails to surprise me when it comes to the cool imaging activities his company -- e2v in the UK -- is involved in. During today's conversation, for example, he casually mentioned that e2v played a part in the discovery of the Martian water.

It turns out that the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), which was launched in 2015 and which is currently orbiting Mars, contains something called the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). In turn, the HiRISE camera boasts e2v image sensors, which allow it to combine very high resolution and signal-to-noise ratio with a large swath width, thereby allowing it to collect images of unprecedented detail. It was HiRISE that captured the image below:

(Image courtesy of NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory / University of Arizona)

 

Scientists believe that the dark, narrow, downhill streaks in this image -- especially the fact that they are changing over time -- are evidence of water flowing on Mars.

Unfortunately, these satellite images are the closest we have at the moment, but I live in hopes that humans will visit and explore Mars in person in my lifetime. Meanwhile, with regard to the "Never-Before-Seen Close-Up Photo" promised in the title of this column, I offer you the following image:

(Image courtesy of Max Maxfield and Bruce Till)

 

How do I know this little scamp has never been seen before? Well, I feel confident in making this claim because my chum and graphics artist guru, Bruce Till, who sits in the office next to mine, just created it for me a few minutes ago. Hmmm, looking at this image is making me hungry; now I fancy a Mars Bar!