Home to many extreme weather conditions, Death Valley National Park is chosen by scientists as a place to study aliens.
Located near the border between the US states of California and Nevada, Death Valley National Park is the hottest place on Earth, with summer temperatures reaching up to 56 degrees Celsius even in the shade. This is also the driest place in North America, with an average rainfall of less than 50mm.
However, the harsh conditions and arid landscape here make this park an ideal place to study aliens.
The US National Park Service (NPS) said that about 3 billion years ago, Mars had the same status as Death Valley National Park today. As a result, Red Planet researchers have used the park as a testing ground for equipment, equipment, and hypotheses related to Mars mission missions.
Typically, in May 2019, NASA tested a technical model of the Lander Vision System (LVS) to test the performance of this system. The system later guided a rover called Perseverance to a safe landing on Mars. NASA said the LVS is an integral part of the guidance that helps steer Perseverance away from dangerous areas on Mars.
In addition to testing equipment at Death Valley, scientists also studied the park’s terrain to better understand the terrain of Mars. Accordingly, this park has a relatively modest vegetation, so accessing to study its terrain is not difficult.
Death Valley National Park has alluvial fan terrain that is formed when water flows out of a ravine and spreads sediment in a triangular or fan shape and flows down a steep hill.
NASA scientists compared this erosion and movement in sediment to the formations of alluvial fans in Gale Crater on Mars.
This research was also extended to the Ubehebe crater and another crater about 183 m deep called Mars Hill, where there are imprints of basalt rocks left over from past volcanoes. Both are geological features similar to those on the Red Planet, where volcanic activity has existed.