Mars rover gets first hints of water

[Lionel]

The Mars rover Spirit has not even left its landing platform yet, but mission managers say some of its major scientific goals are already well on the way to being realised. Most importantly, Spirit has detected tantalising signs of minerals that could provide the long-sought evidence of Mars's watery past.The first images taken by the craft's mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer - an infrared instrument capable of indicating the composition of nearby soils and rocks - show evidence of carbonates and hydrated minerals. Both of these are usually, though not exclusively, produced in long-standing bodies of water.The spectra taken by Spirit have been compared with those from a spacecraft orbiting Mars and from reference spectra taken in laboratories on Earth. "We're ecstatic about how well these match," says Phil Christensen, of Arizona State University, who designed of the instrument. The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter had already detected carbonates using a similar TES but the concentrations in some parts of Spirit's vicinity appear to be at least twice as great. Most importantly, they are now within reach, making it possible in coming weeks to examine their nature in detail.

Spirit's first mini-TES images are averaged over a relatively wide field of view - so wide that virtually no individual rocks in the lander's vicinity are big enough to fill it.

View: Full Article | Source: New Scientist

[+joc]

Of course how could I know, but I have always thought that not only

was the planet hydrated at one time, but that microbial life also existed and

possibly still does.

Just a thought as I egage myself here in highly technologically

sophisticated computering:

If it were not for the vision of JFK, i.e. going to the moon,

we would never have developed the technology that we all take

for granted today.

The vision of President Bush, putting a permanent space station on

the moon as a stepping stone to a manned space flight to Mars, will

no doubt yield the same technological advancement.

What a great time to be alive!

[Nethius]

yep! cant wait to see what the next few weeks will show us!!! very exciting time indeed!