Eureka!This March, one of NASA's twin Mars rovers found what it was searching for: evidence that a lot of liquid water--an ingredient thought to be necessary for life to form--once existed on the Red Planet. While exploring Meridiani Planum Meridiani Planum is a plain located 2 degrees south of Mars' equator (centered at ), in the westernmost portion of Terra Meridiani. It hosts a rare occurrence of gray crystalline hematite. , an Oklahoma-size plain on Mars, the rover named Opportunity discovered bedrock (solid rock beneath soil) at the edge of a crater. The rover sent data to Earth showing that the rocks contain jarosite, an iron-bearing mineral that forms in acidic water. The rocks also contain minerals rich in sulfur. Scientists believe these minerals precipitated (separated a solid from a liquid) when large amounts of salty water evaporated evaporated reduced in volume by evaporation; concentrated to a denser form. . "It looks like [the area] was a water-rich environment at some time in Mars' history," says Jeffrey R. Johnson, a planetary geologist at NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. . Scientists don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. yet if the water formed a lake or if it soaked the rocks as groundwater (water trapped in holes in subsurface sub·sur·face adj. Of, relating to, or situated in an area beneath a surface, especially the surface of the earth or of a body of water. Adj. 1. rocks). With evidence of water, will scientists discover that life existed on Mars? "On Earth, life can thrive in some pretty inhospitable in·hos·pi·ta·ble adj. 1. Displaying no hospitality; unfriendly. 2. Unfavorable to life or growth; hostile: the barren, inhospitable desert. places," says Johnson. "Long ago, life may have found a niche on Mars." Lesson Plans Follow the Mars rovers and other late-breaking news about the Red Planet at Mars TV: www.mars.tv/ Find out more about the minerals recently discovered on Mars: www.jpl.nasa.gov/releases/2004/88.cfm Keep track of the latest news on Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity at this NASA Web site: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html |
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