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New findings offer prospect of water on Mars
July 2, 2011 - 16:13 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - New findings are offering prospect of water on Mars,
an issue that has been puzzling scientists for long time now.
Traces of water on Mars are under a thin varnish of iron oxide, or
rust, similar to conditions found on desert rocks in California's
Mojave Desert, NASA said in a statement on Friday, July 1,
International Business Times reported.
According to NASA scientists, many more outcrops of carbonates that
form mainly in large water bodies have been spotted on Mars surface.
These patches are more in number than originally expected.
"It's possible that an important clue, the presence of carbonates, has
largely escaped the notice of investigators trying to learn if liquid
water once pooled on the Red Planet," Janice Bishop, a planetary
scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center at the SETI Institute at
Moffett Field, California, said.
The new findings that appeared in the Friday July 1, online edition of
the International Journal of Astrobiology, were similar to
observations provided by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
spacecraft, which revealed `the strongest carbonate signature ever
found' on an ancient region of Mars called Nili Fossae.
Another spacecraft for Mars mission called Spirit identified a small
carbonate outcrop at a crater called Gusev in 2010, scientists said.
More recently, NASA's newest and most capable rover, the Mars Science
Laboratory Curiosity, which is schedule to launch in November, will
study whether Mars had environmental conditions favorable for
supporting microbial life.
NASA's findings in the past have also heightened speculations about
the potential for microbial life on Mars. In 2006, Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft, which began orbiting Mars in 1997, provided
images of two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment
through them.
In 2008, laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander identified
water in a soil sample.
July 2, 2011 - 16:13 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - New findings are offering prospect of water on Mars,
an issue that has been puzzling scientists for long time now.
Traces of water on Mars are under a thin varnish of iron oxide, or
rust, similar to conditions found on desert rocks in California's
Mojave Desert, NASA said in a statement on Friday, July 1,
International Business Times reported.
According to NASA scientists, many more outcrops of carbonates that
form mainly in large water bodies have been spotted on Mars surface.
These patches are more in number than originally expected.
"It's possible that an important clue, the presence of carbonates, has
largely escaped the notice of investigators trying to learn if liquid
water once pooled on the Red Planet," Janice Bishop, a planetary
scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center at the SETI Institute at
Moffett Field, California, said.
The new findings that appeared in the Friday July 1, online edition of
the International Journal of Astrobiology, were similar to
observations provided by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
spacecraft, which revealed `the strongest carbonate signature ever
found' on an ancient region of Mars called Nili Fossae.
Another spacecraft for Mars mission called Spirit identified a small
carbonate outcrop at a crater called Gusev in 2010, scientists said.
More recently, NASA's newest and most capable rover, the Mars Science
Laboratory Curiosity, which is schedule to launch in November, will
study whether Mars had environmental conditions favorable for
supporting microbial life.
NASA's findings in the past have also heightened speculations about
the potential for microbial life on Mars. In 2006, Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft, which began orbiting Mars in 1997, provided
images of two gullies on Mars that suggest water carried sediment
through them.
In 2008, laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander identified
water in a soil sample.