December 06, 2006
Water on Mars
Katharine Sanderson in news@nature.com:
Photographs snapped of Mars show gullies that must have grown sometime in the past seven years. That, researchers say, is strong evidence that liquid water is still flowing on the red planet today. And with running water comes a better chance of finding life.
Previous work had suggested that some gullies on the planet are new in geological terms. But that could have meant anything from millions of years ago to just yesterday. The latest data, collected by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) before its recent demise (see 'Goodbye Mars Global Surveyor'), suggest that water flows are happening now.
"Recognizing new contemporary processes is always a thrill," says Michael Malin of instrumentation company Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California, who led the investigation. "The current gully activity was anticipated, but to find it actually happening was very cool."
Scientists are a long way from finding any evidence of little green bacteria on Mars, but now, they say, they have a better idea where to look. "If I were looking for life on Mars, I'd bias my research in the direction of these features," says Mike Ravine, one of Malin's colleagues.
Posted by Robin Varghese at 05:40 PM | Permalink
Comments
On the Hebrew news last night, this discovery was announced as "canals (תעלות) seen on Mars”. It would appear that Israel Radio knows something that NASA doesn’t, and that settlers are at work digging irrigation channels.
Posted by: aguy109 | Dec 7, 2006 1:48:02 AM
Breaking news This just In:
PEACE on Earth Breaks out--Occupation of Iraq Ends; Palestine becomes an Independent State ---------as thousands of American troops were swiftly packed into arriving NASA space crafts and whisked off to Mars in the wake of the breaking news that scientists have now conclusively determined that the liquid trickling down the crater walls on Mars photographed by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft earlier this week is in fact OIL. In view of this--Washington DC rents have fallen to become free housing for the homeless---as thousands of staffers in the Pentagon, Homeland Security, White House, IMF, State Department; Department of Energy now return to their homes to await orders for relocation to Mars. A jubliant and recently released from the Occupation, kid on the street said today--"funny--this turn of events--Snickers was always our favorite who would have guessed it would be the less nuttier version that would come to our rescue."
Posted by: maniza | Dec 8, 2006 6:37:41 PM
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