More evidence found for water on Mars

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/15/07 | Randolph E. Schmid - ap

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - An orbiting spacecraft has sent back new evidence for the presence of water on Mars. Scientists long have debated whether water flowed on the red planet, with evidence increasing in recent years. The presence of water would raise the possibility of at least primitive life forms existing there.

Images from a camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show alternating layers of dark- and light-toned rock in a giant rift valley.

Within those deposits are a series of linear fractures, called joints, that are surrounded by "halos" of light-toned bedrock, according to researchers from the University of Arizona.

Their findings, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, were being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco.

Lead author Chris H. Okubo said the "halos" indicate areas where fluids, probably water, passed through the bedrock. Minerals in the fluid strengthen and bleach the rock, he said, making it more resistant to erosion than other areas.

"On Earth, bleaching of rock surrounding a fracture is a clear indication of chemical interactions between fluids circulating within the fracture and the host rock," Okubo and co-author Alfred S. McEwen reported in the paper.

The researchers also said that layered outcrops can indicate cycles with materials deposited by regular episodes of water, wind or volcanic activity.

Just last December scientists reported evidence that water may be flowing through Mars' frigid surface. Images from Mars Global Surveyor showed changes in craters that provide the strongest evidence yet that water moved through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now.

The Surveyor previously had spotted tens of thousands of gullies that scientists believed were geologically young and carved by fast-moving water coursing down cliffs and steep crater walls. Scientists decided to retake photos in a search for evidence of recent activity.

Two craters in the southern hemisphere that were originally photographed in 1999 and 2001 were examined again in 2004 and 2005, and the images yielded changes consistent with water flowing down the crater walls, according to the study.

[NormsRevenge]

This image provided by Science shows light-toned layered rock in Becquerel Crater on Mars as photographed by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The orbiter images show alternating layers of dark- and light-toned rock within which are a series of fractures, surrounded by what researchers call 'halos' of light-toned bedrock. These halos are believed to indicate where fluids, probably water, passed through the bedrock. The layers show cyclic changes in thickness, which may be due to annual climate cycles, a cyclic variability in the source of the sediment, or both. The blue areas are extensive fields of sand dunes. (AP Photo/Science)

[NormsRevenge]

This image provided by Science shows a valley on Mars as photographed by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The upper-most layers of rock in many areas of Valles Marineris, Mars, have been stripped away by erosion, providing a glimpse of the subsurface that was once buried deep underground. Some fractures in these areas show evidence of fluid alteration, yielding clues into the ancient fluid chemistry and habitability of the subsurface. The image is approximately one kilometer across, and illumination is from the upper left. (AP Photo/Science)

[Army Air Corps]

Ping

[NormsRevenge]

More info on these above images and other stuff HERE from the HiRise web site.

[Jean S]

This is fascinating! Bump.

[fantom]

I recently read where the temperature on mars is rising. Soon gore will be sponsoring concerts to save mars from the horrors of galactic warming.

[NormsRevenge]

Cool stuff, indeed.

The biggest canyon in the solar system can be seen by merging hundreds of photos from NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. The canyon system on Mars, named Valles Marineris, stretches as far as the distance from California to New York. Steep walls nearly as high as Mount Everest give way to numerous side canyons, possibly carved by water. Growing evidence of water on Mars adds weight to the theory that life once existed and could still exist beneath its surface, said a group of scientists meeting in San Francisco.(AFP/NASA/File)

[Sam Ketcham]

"The presence of water ...raise the possibility of ... primitive life forms existing there" Jimmy Carter, Clinton, and Kerry-Gores?

[word_warrior_bob]

I was at the American Museum Of Natural History in NYC a couple of weeks ago and saw the IMAX movie "Mission To Mars", you would not believe the technology and effort it took to get those rovers there, unbelievable.

[highlander_UW]

Now something doesn't make sense there...primitive life = liberals...but the rumor is that men are from mars, and we know that very few liberals are real men.

[NormsRevenge]

15-Feb-2007
More Images From Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter web site

[Sam Ketcham]

Geez! You are right. Those mentioned are from Venus.

[NormsRevenge]

Polar layered deposits of Mars' south pole.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

NASA Spacecraft Read Layered Clues to Changes on Mars Press Release and images

[mhx]

Canals on Mars.

[SaxxonWoods]

Hey, isn't that a face?...never mind.

[mirado]

I always marvel at scientific discoveries, or advancements, but would scientist(s) soon discover, please, a planet where one could send all the left wingers to? OK, on the other hand, would scientist(s) soon discover, please, a planet where one could send all the right wingers to? When scientist(s) crack that marvel, I nominate myself, (of course with all might of my invisible FR friends) to determine, which folks go to which planet. sar/of, ok.

[baclava]

We should have started terraforming Mars years ago.

Who cares about the possibility of billion year old microbes? We need to free the human swarm from this mudball and start spreading our sperm and eggs around the galaxy like we were meant to.

Get cracking.

[NutCrackerBoy]

Well at least there will be refreshing water to drink while we are spreading the "human virus" all over Mars.

[mowowie]

Planet Utopia?

[Steve Van Doorn]

That looks like a shore line with water. What is that blue stuff on the bottom that looks like waves coming in?