Life could have thrived on water-filled Mars, Nasa reveals
Posted on: Wednesday, 3 March 2004, 06:00 CST
WATER ONCE drenched the surface of Mars and would have provided the conditions necessary for the evolution of life, scientists at the American space agency Nasa announced last night.
Nasa's robotic rover Opportunity had found the most convincing evidence yet that the Red Planet was once a water-filled world on which life could have thrived, they said after keeping details of the findings a closely guarded secret until a press conference yesterday. Opportunity, a six- wheeled vehicle the size of a golf buggy, has been exploring a large plain on Mars called Meridiani Planum, which was thought to have been the bed of a huge lake or ocean.
Nasa scientists, led by the principal investigator, Steven Squyres of Cornell University, said that the Nasa team had found four interlinking pieces of evidence to point to the past presence of water on Mars. "It's hard to avoid the conclusion that water once flowed on Mars," he said.
There is evidence that the Martian rocks were modified as well as being laid down by large bodies of water flowing over the surface over many years. "We think for some considerable time it was a habitable environment," Dr Squyres said.
The Opportunity has taken trips out across the plain investigating rocky outcrops known to be rich in a mineral called haematite, which could have formed as a result of interaction with oxygen and water. A microscope on board has taken pictures of strange spherical objects about the size of small ball bearings embedded in the soil.
w A European mission to land a probe on a comet finally blasted off yesterday from French Guiana on board an Ariane-5 launcher, five days late for its 10-year mission. The EUR1bn Rosetta mission is due to rendezvous with the comet 67P/ Churymov-Gerasimenko in May 2014. Before that, it will take a wandering route around the solar system, passing Earth once more and Mars three times.
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