LCLU Annual Talk
The Early Aqueous Environment of Mars Inferred From Mission Lifetime Results by the Curiosity Rover at Gale Crater
Wednesday, 29 April 2026, 5:30-6:30pm
John P. Grotzinger
Harold Brown Professor of Geology
California Institute of Technology, Division of geological and Planetary Sciences
NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, with its Curiosity rover, is in its fourteenth year assessing the habitability of its field area in Gale crater. As of December 2025, Curiosity has examined ~900 meters of stratigraphy on Aeolis Palus and Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp) along a 36-km traverse. Mission results indicate that habitable conditions (persistent liquid water, key chemical elements required for life, and sources of energy) were present in multiple environments likely spanning at least millions of years in the early Hesperian, and potentially much longer in the subsurface. Significant mission lifetime and most recent results will both be highlighted.
Location
Main Lecture Theatre
Department of Zoology, New Museums Site, Downing Street
Cambridge
CB2 3EJ
To see map
For any enquiries, please contact: admin@lclu.cam.ac.uk
Previous Talks
Tuesday 18 March 2025, 17:30-18:30
Primitive cell membranes must have been sufficiently robust to survive environmental fluctuations, but also sufficiently permeable to allow for essential nutrients such as nucleotides to reach the protocell interior. In addition, the primordial genetic material must have been able to replicate with sufficient speed and accuracy to allow for the transmission of useful genetic information from generation to generation. Jack Szostak will describe recent progress in the development of a laboratory model of a protocell capable of growth and division, and replication of the genetic material in the absence of any evolved machinery.
Thursday 26 October 2023, 17:30-18:30
What is the best approach to constrain the geochemical scenarios for the origins of life on Earth?
Prof Sasselov will introduce us to the most recent, cutting edge research, highlighting two specific studies: the need for extreme selectivity in the prebiotic organic synthesis and the role of UV light and pools with magnetic surfaces play in leading to the origin of biological homochirality, and the early evolution of function among the growing genetic polymers.