the eXiLe
05-22-2007, 12:30 PM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00169/mars3_169344a.jpg
A broken wheel on one of the Nasa rovers that has been roaming Mars for three and a half years has helped scientists to find strong new evidence that the Red Planet was once wetter and possibly capable of supporting life.
Analysis of a patch of soil that was churned up by the stuck wheel on the the Spirit rover has revealed it is composed of about 90 per cent pure silica — a mineral that would have required the presence of water to form.
The find has surprised and delighted researchers, who said it is among the most significant discoveries made by Spirit since it landed on Mars in January 2003.
It adds to growing evidence, amassed by the Nasa rovers and orbiting spacecraft such as Europe’s Mars Express in recent years, that suggest Mars was once much warmer and wetter than it is today, and that it may have harboured life.
read more.......
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1824283.ece
A broken wheel on one of the Nasa rovers that has been roaming Mars for three and a half years has helped scientists to find strong new evidence that the Red Planet was once wetter and possibly capable of supporting life.
Analysis of a patch of soil that was churned up by the stuck wheel on the the Spirit rover has revealed it is composed of about 90 per cent pure silica — a mineral that would have required the presence of water to form.
The find has surprised and delighted researchers, who said it is among the most significant discoveries made by Spirit since it landed on Mars in January 2003.
It adds to growing evidence, amassed by the Nasa rovers and orbiting spacecraft such as Europe’s Mars Express in recent years, that suggest Mars was once much warmer and wetter than it is today, and that it may have harboured life.
read more.......
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article1824283.ece