PRESQUE ISLE – Humans may visit Earth’s closest planetary neighbor – Mars – just 10 or 15 years from now, a scientist told an audience this weekend at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

“Mars will be the first planet to be visited,” said Nathan Bridges, a geologist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. He spoke Saturday during UMPI’s annual Science Day.

“It will happen in your lifetime and it could be someone in this room,” said Bridges, who is part of the JPL team analyzing pictures sent back by various probes and other craft traveling to Mars.

During his talk, Bridges estimated that such a human landing could occur within 10 to 15 years at the earliest, depending on the country’s political climate.

Science Day is part of the activities of the university’s Natural History Museum. Other speakers have included scientists known for their work in geology and paleontology.

Bridges has been working at JPL since 1997 with information gathered from the Mars Pathfinder mission. He is studying the spectral properties of rocks and soil and the physical weathering of rocks on Mars.

Bridges also was a member of the landing site selection team for three Mars missions and helped develop an ultrasonic corer used to measure volatile matter on the planet.

Using a presentation of slides and video, Bridges said that exploration of Mars began 35 years ago, even before human beings stepped on Earth’s moon.

Visible in the night sky, lines on Mars’ surface caught the eyes of observes decades ago and early researchers thought the lines represented evidence of canals made by “intelligent Martians.”

“A lot of public interest [was] generated and the public thought there was life there,” said Bridges.

In 1969, the same year that Americans first walked on the moon, pictures were sent back from a Mars probe that showed apparently lifeless craters.

“The early probes saw only a small part of Mars and [they] flew by the most boring parts,” said the geologist.

An orbiting probe sent in the 1970s showed more of the Red Planet and how running water, at one time, changed the face of Mars.

Bridges also showed color pictures of the surface of Mars, which resembled the American Southwest.

“This is really the surface of Mars,” said Bridges. “It’s really amazing if you think about it philosophically.”

A video showed the human-sent land rover “making tracks” on the Martian surface, after billions of years of Mars’ existence.

Windsocks stuck into the soil also showed evidence of Martian wind.

Earlier and later photos showing vast differences in detail demonstrate the importance of continuing visits to Mars, according to Bridges.

Another mission is planned in March, while another in 2003 will involve sending two rovers that may bring back the first samples of rocks.

“All this robotics exploration will lead to people going to Mars,” said Bridges.

Such an expedition could take up to 18 months, including 12 months to travel back and forth, Bridges said in answer to a question after his presentation.

“You can’t come right back because the planets aren’t aligned right,” he explained.

Recent missions have failed because space officials were attempting to conduct two missions at once. “There probably wasn’t enough people to monitor what’s going on,” he said.

The scientist also said that both of the country’s major political parties support space exploration, but for different reasons.

While the Republicans are more interested in the military and defense aspect of space, the Democrats are closer to using space research for environmental concerns, according to Bridges.

While in Aroostook County, where Bridges has close relatives, the scientist also spoke to students at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone.