MARS: Great Lakes?In NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. scientists' hunt for life on Mars Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. It remains an open question whether life exists on Mars now, or existed there in the past. , they don't expect to find billboards advertising "Welcome to the Red Planet!" But every new piece of evidence edges them closer to an extraordinary revelation: Life existed--and might still exist--on Mars. The latest images captured by Mars Global Surveyor The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) was a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. It began the United States's return to Mars after a 20-year absence. detail layered rock formations like swirled cake frosting frosting the slight graying of the haircoat around the face, particularly muzzle, in dogs with aging and as a regular feature of some breeds such as the Belgian shepherd dog. in canyons and craters --some more than 3,219 meters (2 miles) deep. The formations could be remnants of lake beds in which liquid water once gushed on the now-frigid, barren planet. "We think these thin rock layers formed underwater," says NASA researcher Michael Malin. "It's hard to come up with an alternative." What's so special about dried-up lake beds? Scientists say they're strikingly similar to those on Earth--which teem teem 1 v. teemed, teem·ing, teems v.intr. 1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms. 2. with fossils, preserved living remains. If Mars once harbored water, it could conceal a trove of fossils. But the fossil hunt won't begin until 2013, when a NASA robot probe should blast off and return with rock samples two or three years later. While no one expects to behold a Martian T. rex T. rex, T. Rex or T-Rex may refer to:
Surveyor's latest photos suggest water could have flowed for millions of years on early Mars. If sand and dust eventually settled into lakes, water (or ice) may have cemented the particles into rocks. New water could have created more bands of rock over many millennia, later carved or eroded by savage winds. Could water still bubble deep beneath Mars' surface (see SW 9/4/2000)? If ancient waters hosted Martian life forms, says Michael Carr at the U.S. Geological Survey, it's possible: "Life can adapt to changing conditions so well, it could survive today," Carr says. "Perhaps it's deep below the surface, in liquid water." |
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