Rio Tinto River, Devon Island, Kilauea Volcano, are three of the places on Earth that have similar features to the planets and moons in the solar system.
The Rio Tinto River , Spain, is red due to its large water-soluble iron content and very acidic river water, according to Mother Nature Network. Although this is a harsh environment, some anaerobic microorganisms exist. They feed on iron and sulfur minerals abundant in rivers. Scientists think that the Rio Tinto River has similar conditions to liquid water on Mars or Jupiter’s moon Europa. Therefore, this river is an ideal place to study astrobiology. (Photo: Fungur).
Devon Island , Canada, is the largest uninhabited island on Earth. Although the island’s desolate landscape makes it unlikely to be an ideal summer vacation destination, it’s the perfect place for NASA to test rover robotic technology for flights. go to Mars. (Photo: NASA).
Kilauea volcano is nearly 1,300m high in Hawaii, USA, erupting continuously for the past 33 years. The landscape of this area looks like the volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon Io. (Image: Wikipedia).
Hawaii is best known for its waterfalls and beaches, but it’s also home to some of the most extreme, exotic landscapes in the world. NASA uses Mount Mauna Kea and Haleakala, Hawaii, to test rovers. In fact, the composition of the soil on Mars is nearly identical to that of Hawaii. (Photo: Emily Kinney).
Etosha Salt Lake , Namibia, may look like Ontario Lacus, the largest hydrocarbon lake on Saturn’s moon Titan. (Photo: Yathin S Krishnappa).
Saturn’s moon Europa and Jupiter’s moon Enceladus have liquid oceans beneath the icy crust. These moons are seismically and volcanically active, so their seabeds are likely to resemble hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor on Earth. (Photo: World Ocean Review).
Teide National Park in the Canary Islands, Spain, has a landscape similar to the terrain on Mars. In 2010, a research team visited here to test the instruments of the ExoMars project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos Space Agency, Russia, to search for biological traces on the planet. red. (Photo: Flickr).
The Atacama Desert, Chile, has a rather desolate landscape that includes several salt lakes, sand dunes, and volcanic lava flows. These features are quite similar to the terrain on Mars. (Photo: National Geographic).
The Dry Valleys in Antarctica are among the harshest in the world, with dry weather conditions and bone-chilling air. Winds blowing through the valley reach speeds of more than 320 km/h. This feature resembles the cold, dry plains on Mars. (Photo: Cool Antarctica).
Lake Vostok is the largest underground lake in Antarctica. Its liquid water surface has been trapped under the ice for at least 15-25 million years. Scientists believe that ancient bacteria that survived in the harsh conditions of Lake Vostok will provide more information to study possible life forms on Jupiter’s moon Europa and stellar moon Enceladus Tho. (Photo: Reuters).
Mono Lake in California looks exactly like the Mars of 4 billion years ago, at this time the red planet began to lose liquid water as they gradually evaporated into space. As the water turns to vapor and flies away, they reveal tufas, oddly shaped calcium towers beneath the lake bed. The scientists went to Mono Lake and began analyzing samples, which contained populations of bacteria living in saltwater, alkaline water and other extreme conditions that most likely happened on Mars in the past. past. (Photo: Tim Fitzharris, Minden Pictures).
The Borup Fiord Pass is a mountain-back valley on Canada’s Ellesmere Island that is home to a yellow band of foul-smelling ice that researchers predict exists on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Glaciers and geysers spew sulfur from the icy crust, considered by scientists to be the closest to the landscape on Europa. Not only that, the vibrant microbial population is also being studied by the team of researchers to make possible predictions for a trip to Jupiter’s moon in the next decade. (Photo: Nick Norman).
Since 2003, scientists have been looking to Svalbard , an archipelago in the Arctic administered by Norway, as a place to study life forms that may exist on Mars. With its extremely low temperatures, permafrost and volcanic geology, Svalbard mirrors the environment at the poles of Mars. (Photo: Michael Melford).
With its rugged sandstone cliffs and a pale orange-red glow, Wadi Rum in Jordan is one of the most landscaped lands on the blue planet. The desert that surrounds this area is called “Valley of the Moon” in the local language, which has become Mars in many Hollywood blockbusters. But not only for its artistic beauty, this place is chosen by many space agencies such as Israel’s Negev as a place for serious scientific research. These agencies bring astronauts here as an experiment to prepare for human life on Mars in the future. (Photo: Robert Harding Picture Library).
About 300 meters below ground, massive selenite crystals create a hot, moist, dark, eye-catching cave at the Naica mine in Mexico. These crystals, the smallest are 4 meters long, the largest are more than 9 meters long. This place was first discovered in 2000 and quickly put on the map of exotic destinations. In 2017, NASA’s Penelope Boston Laboratory announced that it had found colonies of bacteria trapped inside this group of crystals, estimated to be more than 50,000 years old. (Photo: Carsten Peter, Speleoresearch & Films).
Salar de Uyuni in the Andes in the territory of Bolivia is the largest salt flat on Earth. The salt here is so abundant and thick that it forms a white carpet that can be seen from space. In the rainy season, the rains add a carpet of water to it, turning it into a giant mirror. The salt-loving creatures gathered here are very crowded to grow. (Photo: Cedric Gerbheade).
If walking on the Moon or walking on Mars is difficult, think about moving inside lava tubes , they will make the journey easier. In the ground, inside the lava tube, we can avoid high radiation, the attack of small meteorites, unpredictable temperature fluctuations, harsh dust storms, especially inside which is so large that it contains an entire town. In fact, scientists have also considered letting astronauts live inside lava tubes that are no longer active when they visit other planets in the future. (Photo: Carsten Peter).
Antarctica is the golden face in the exoplanet ocean exploration village. Thick layers of ice cover the surface, which obscures the frigid sea beneath which is teeming with biodiversity, a structure that resembles the ocean of liquid water thought to exist beneath the moon’s frozen surface. planet Europa. To find life in Europa and similar places, scientists on Earth must approach these objects, drill deep into the ice and submerge their machines into the sea below. But to make it easier, the researchers are still experimenting at home, right in the waters of Antarctica before sending the ship to the field. (Photo: Norbert Wu, Minden Pictures).
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a place that does not fall within any definition because of its uniqueness, so unique that it is toxic, not a single animal can survive here. The dense volcanic landscape makes the water here not only hot, but also acidic, high in salinity and toxic steam. But here, microorganisms thrive, especially in the area of sulfur reservoirs with mineral steam pipes. When scientists first arrived here, they knew for sure, it was exactly like what was happening on Mars and on Earth at the dawn of life. (Photo: Robert Harding Picture Library).