Opportunity Rover Indicates Ancient Mars Was Wet
Explanation:
Was Mars ever wet enough to support life?
To help answer this question,
NASA launched
two
rover missions to the
red planet
and landed them in regions that
satellite
images indicated
might have been covered with water.
Yesterday, mounting evidence was
released indicating that the
Mars Opportunity rover had indeed uncovered
indications that its landing site,
Meridiani Planum, was once quite wet.
Evidence that liquid water once flowed includes the
physical appearance of many rocks,
rocks with
niches where crystals appear to have grown, and rocks with
sulfates.
Pictured above, Opportunity looks back on its now empty lander.
Visible is some of the
light rock outcropping
that yielded water indications, as well as the
rim of the small crater
where Opportunity landed.
The rover will
continue to explore its surroundings and try to determine the
nature and
extent that water molded the region.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
