The finding appears to be the best evidence to date that
conditions which could have supported life once existed on the
now-frozen planet.
JPL announced three weeks ago that the six-wheeled rover --
which landed in a shallow crater on Mars' Meridiani Planum on
Jan.24 -- had found evidence that water once "drenched" the
area.
At that time, scientists presented evidence "that the rocks at
Meridiani Planum had once had water seep slowly through them," said
Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for the
Mars Exploration Rover project.
"What's happened since then is we have found what I believe to
be strong evidence that the rocks themselves are sediments that
were laid down in liquid water," Squyres said. "It's a fundamental
distinction -- like the difference between the water you can draw
from a well and water you can swim in."
Squyres said the evidence indicates that Opportunity "is now
parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars."
NASA's Ed Weiler, associate administrator for space science,
described the finding as a "profound discovery" that has profound
implications for astro-biology.
The aim of the 820-million-dollar mission -- which also involves
a twin rover named "Spirit" -- was to determine if there ever were
life-supporting conditions -- such as abundant water -- on the
planet.
Scientists say that so far, neither Opportunity, nor its twin
six-wheeled rover, Spirit, have found direct signs of living
organisms on Mars.
(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2004)