Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter Past

User rating: 4.6 / 5 after 27 vote(s)

NASAs Spirit rover has found a patch of bright-toned soil so rich in silica that scientists propose water must have been involved in concentrating it. Image Credit: NASAJPL-CaltechCornell
NASA's Spirit rover has found a patch of bright-toned soil so rich in silica that scientists propose water must have been involved in concentrating it. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

A patch of Martian soil analyzed by NASA's rover Spirit is so rich in silica that it may provide some of the strongest evidence yet that ancient Mars was much wetter than it is now. The processes that could have produced such a concentrated deposit of silica require the presence of water.


Full story »
All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for May 21, 2007

Trench on Mars Ready for Next Sampling by NASA Lander

33 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has groomed the bottom of a shallow trench to prepare for collecting a sample to be analyzed from a hard subsurface layer where the soil may contain frozen water. ...

Arctic 'holds 90bln barrels of oil, mostly offshore'

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.

Russian scientists begin trial exploration of world's deepest lake

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Russian scientists leading a submarine expedition to probe the world's deepest lake on Thursday carried out test dives ahead of the start of the operation next week, reports said.

Scientists solve 30-year-old aurora borealis mystery

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
UCLA space scientists and colleagues have identified the mechanism that triggers substorms in space; wreaks havoc on satellites, power grids and communications systems; and leads to the explosive release of ...

The Quiet Explosion: Object intermediate between normal supernovae and gamma-ray bursts found

2 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
A European-led team of astronomers are providing hints that a recent supernova may not be as normal as initially thought. Instead, the star that exploded is now understood to have collapsed into a black hole, producing a ...
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive