NASA to Announce 'Significant Findings' of Water on Mars

[ayoub_ibrahim]

NASA will hold a press conference Tuesday to announce "significant findings" about water on Mars based on evidence from its Opportunity Mars rover.

"It's going to be the most significant science results that we've had from the rovers, and it's bearing on their primary mission," NASA spokesperson Don Savage told SPACE.com . That mission is to find signs of water that might support life.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_nasa_040301.html

[PAugustin]

What ? martians don't drink beer ???

[Jon P. Inghram]

Technically, if they found no presence of water in the soil it'd still count as a "significant finding" of water.

[Dr Mordrid]

Reading the Space.com story that isn't the "feel" I get. We'll find out in about 20 minutes & I'll be watching on the NASA channel

Dr. Mordrid

[Wulfman]

spiegel.de rumoured that they have evidence of some stones indeed being sediment, which could only originate from stagnant water.

mfg
wulfman

[Jon P. Inghram]

I'm gonna guess that the rock outcrop is made from or contains sulfates or sulfides, the nodules contain pyrite that has partially or completely oxidized into hematite.

[Dr Mordrid]

You nailed it with the sulfur compounds. Also other evidence of sedimentation showing, as they stated it, that this area may once have been habitable. Apparently there is another area that looks even more promising they've called "el Capitan".

This all begs for a human geologist to do some real analysis in person.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jon P. Inghram]

El Capitan is one of the areas they drilled, it's right above the other drill site.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Drat, they haven't said what they think the blueberries are, other than to say that they are pretty certain they're concretions.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

latest update
Mars rocks once 'water drenched'
Nasa says its Mars rover Opportunity has shown unequivocally that the Red Planet had the right conditions to support life some time in its history.
The rover has revealed the rocks at its landing site were once in contact with substantial amounts of liquid water.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3524275.stm