Posted on 09/11/2021 7:38:34 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
The first two rock samples examined by NASA's Mars rover Perseverance give scientists a firm belief that water inundated Jezero Crater for a sustained period of time, the agency announced Friday.
"We determined salt granules in the rock indicate it was exposed to water," Julia Goreva, a NASA scientist for the rover program, said in a news conference from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The rocks, drilled Monday and Wednesday, came from an igneous or volcanic rock. The agency previously knew that water once filled the crater, but not for how long.
The salt deposits mean NASA can now rule out a sudden "flash in the pan" water event.
"It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment," said Ken Farley, project scientist for the mission, said in the release. "It's a big deal that the water was there a long time."
The rover sampled a rock NASA dubbed Rochette on a ridge named Artuby. The two samples are named Montdenier and Montagnac after a French mountain and region, respectively.
Scientists chose the Rochette drilling site after a previous attempt to drill a sample failed because the brittle rock target crumbled.
The samples may be dropped on the Martian surface for a future rover to retrieve and launch into space, where another spacecraft would catch them and return them to Earth. Ultimately, the goal is to use advanced equipment on Earth to analyze the rocks for signs of ancient life on Mars.
There was once water on Mars and
IF
There was once life on Mars ....
Unless Mars is gazillions of years older than earth ... what happened to the good ol' H2O ?
Translation: We still, despite all our bulls**t weasel-words and tap dancing, cannot objectively prove there was ever water on Mars.
Kinda looks like some sort of footprint - on the right side of the image ...must be some sort of wind blown soil pattern.
The leftist Martians ruined the planet?
Finally proof of life on Mars! Must have been pretty scary borer bees that could drill those holes in that rock!! :/
(Martian) global warming?
I’m sorry but I drank all that lemonade and it was a long way to the next gas station.
A.K.A. “We need more money.”
Water or traces of water on Mars, cold fusion and Sasquatch are all in the same group.
We should send Joe up there to check it out.
More proof of man made climate change.
(/s)
wind and sand make a great... sandblaster...
Ok, Mars had water. Water gone, must be due to the climate change of global warming! Ok, so who drove the gasoline cars on Mars to cause the global warming?
“We determined salt granules in the rock indicate it was exposed to water . . . .”
Evaporated in the warming caused by SUVs
I played around with Goggle Mars years ago. I traveled across the planet and came across many places that looked like watering holes. I took screen shots of the places. I entertained having them made into much larger pictures and having an art exhibit. Some of them were that striking and beautiful.
When we finally get that worldwide flood, we’ll only need to send it to Mars. Problem solved on both planets.
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