SCI/TECH: Mars once 'Drenched' in Water.

NASA Officials have just confirmed at a press conference that the Opportunity Rover site at Meridiani Planum was once 'drenched' in water. Whether or not the rocks themselves were created under water is not yet known. But they have at one time been underwater for extended periods of time. Also that at one point in time the location was a Habitable environment for life.

Over the next few Sols there are plans to look closely at a nearby outcrop that appears to exhibit 'Cross-Bedding'. Cross-Bedding indicates the rock was created from sediments laid down in a current. From the Geometry of the Cross-Beds it should be possible to find out whether it was currents of water or air.

Background Information:
The press conference was called to announce what NASA called 'Significant findings' from the Opportunity Rover. Opportunity is presently exploring the Meridiani Planum, while her sister Rover, Spirit, is on the other side of the Planet in the Gusev Crater region.

Those present at the Press conference included: Dr. Ed Weiler, Professor Steve Squyres, Dr. Benton C. Clark III, Dr. Joy Crisp and Dr. Jim Garvin. This list, along with the fact the conference was held in Washington, fueled strong speculation over the last few days as to what Opportunity had discovered.

Related ATS Threads:
NASA to make "significant" announcement on Mars mission
Mars: A Water World?

Related Sites:
www.astrobiology.com...
www.spacedaily.com...
www.space.com...





[Edited on 4-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

This is great step in the right direction. I'm watching the conference right now on the internet. I hope we learn more as time goes on.

If there was water, then there are probably subsurface caverns, just like on Earth...

And since we now know that there are beings on Earth that don't necessarily rely on aerobic respiration, there could be a good possibility of finding something alive or that used to be alive.

That would really stick it to the man, now wouldn't it?

DeltaChaos

Good gracious!
This will really put the cat among the pigeons....
Get ready for every nut to twist this around push their wheelbarrow of beliefs from "we are children of Mars" "there was a civilization on mars" "Aliens are now among us" "planet X is true", etc etc....

This will boost the desire to send humans to mars.

Originally posted by Netchicken
Good gracious!
This will really put the cat among the pigeons....
Get ready for every nut to twist this around push their wheelbarrow of beliefs from "we are children of Mars" "there was a civilization on mars" "Aliens are now among us" "planet X is true", etc etc....

This will boost the desire to send humans to mars.

Sort of convenient timing,right after Bush's plans,eh?

I just have to say that this is so very extremely cool!!

Deffinite proof of liquid water on another planet... so so very cool. In this dark existence we call Earth in the year 2004, this is one of the few bright things go NASA!

All I know is that its a damn good thing there were no Egyptologist on the research team or we'd be hearing it was wind and sand erosion. Funny how quickly and easily the difference can be determined from photographs millions of miles away when we still have those who won't accept it when they can walk over and put their hand on it. Make one think that it isn't rocket science to determine the specific causes of erosion.

Que?

The findings were not based on erosion patterns?

There was a swag of different pieces of evidence that combined to make a very stong case for water. The Spherules and how they interacted with the surrounding rock. The void spaces visible in the cut rock. The presence of Jarosite. The layering of the Sulfur and Bromine in the rocks. etc etc.

The best news I've heard in a while.... I'm sure though that this means some kind of militarization some time in the future of this planet....

I'm curious what led you to be Sure of that assumption Zendik?

what a let down...I already knew that.....so much hype

still it's exciting to have science confirm what many had suggested

Heh, you didn't 'know' ww, there was no way you could have. Isn't it nice to have your suspicions backed up by solid evidence though?

Although I know it was a slightly different thing.

Shouldnt the ESA get more plaudits than they have so far?

feels like a million bucks...
i always knew there was water on mars

i'm glad NASA has done it...again, wow..
their budget should take one hell of a swing upppp, despite america's debts i see the rover success as an extension strategy for NASA.
(hopefully the russians can do something of similar value soon...possibly in unison with the americans).

I dont mean to seem like a conspiracy nut but I really think NASA has known this for sometime. I think they are trying to figure out a way to break the fact we are not alone gently to us.

Stay tuned for more gradual leaks hinting towards life elsewheres and possibly even alien human interaction.

Well now knowing there was water, and probubly could be water in the soil,...


And knowing that bacteria can live in some environmentally difficult area's,..


That's where I would be looking next.

The public is still waiting to see the films taken by Joseph Walker for NASA from his X-15 flights where he stated his duty was to film UFOs and indeed he captured some on film. Oh, this happened over 40 years ago.

This is a crap annoucment by NASA and the charade continues.

*yawn*

i sometimes wonder if there is life on this planet
they treat the human race as children as we gobble up there tiny bits of crap
significant announcement dont make me laugh

go back to sleep world nasa will care for you

yes yawn. Given the thousands of photographs taken of mars any competent geologist can see from the land formations that there was once flowing water. The problem is that since they were photographs of Mars they come with all the pre-conceived theories and ideas that prevent a "normal" interpretation. As has been mentioned , the same problem affects the interpretation of the erosion of the Sphinx, pre-conceived ideas and theories.

Oh by the way Nasa what is all that white stuff at the poles which changes with the seasons.....let me guess frozen carbon dioxide. I have now seen two photographs which if they were taken on earth would clearly indicate liquid water in lakes. But they are on Mars so they can't be can they. It must be a trick of the light. Presumably the tracks made by the rovers are not due to wet ground but because of the very fine powder just like the astronauts footprints on the moon.

Oh another question for Nasa. Why is that every colour photograph has been taken with the right hand IR pancam ? (i.e. always red, including blue logos and tape around cables, due to the frequency response as explained by Nasa themselves). Why is it that you have a left hand camera capable of taking decent colour photographs and this is only used to photograph the calibration aid ? (a pointless excercise if you don't intend to use the camera). If , as you justify, you need to use the IR pancam for detail why take a colour photograph of the lander ? Surely we have anough of these....in detail!......taken on earch. Oh and in correct colours.

As our favourite Vulcan would say. It's illogical Captain.

malcr, sure there was suggestions from overhead imagery that there might have been water on Mars, thats a hell of a long way from any sort of confirmation.

As far as the color images. None are made up with Right-Eye images, the right-eye is almost all wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. You may be confusing this with the fact that some of the panorama images used the L2 filter for the Red-Channel instead of the L4. This has been covered many times on ATS, and was basically because the L2 was much more useful for the Geological mission of the rover, and it really doesn't change the look of the landscape all that much.