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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 06.10.04 10:53l 81 Lines 3112 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : CD0243ZL2VAL
Read: GUEST
Subj: Opportunity on Sea bed?
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Sent: 041006/0908Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:49167 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
Oct 5, 11:36 PM
Martian sea could have hosted life
BY BY TODD HALVORSON
FLORIDA TODAY
CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA's Mars Opportunity rover is rambling through a
region that likely featured an ancient sea or lake of enormous size --
an area that could have been hospitable to primitive life.
That's the gist of a new study from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Crunching data from NASA's orbiting Mars Odyssey and Mars Global
Surveyor spacecraft, the study shows that Opportunity's landing site
probably was once engulfed in a body of water that spanned at least
127,000 square miles.
"If it did happen to be a body of water, it must have been about the
size of the Baltic Sea or larger," said Brian Hynek, a research
associate at the university.
The Opportunity rover landed Jan. 25 at Meridiani Planum, a region named
for its close proximity to the Prime Meridian of Mars.
The smooth plain features dark red undulating terrain and the first
bedrock outcrops discovered on Mars.
In March, scientists analyzing data from rover instruments confirmed
that the rock outcrops are rich in gray hematite, an iron-bearing
mineral that typically forms in watery environments. They also contain
th e types of sulfate deposits linked to slow evaporation of salt-water
seas.
Hynek expanded on those findings by analyzing a more widespread area
with instruments aboard the two orbiting spacecraft. Thermal emission
data from them show similar outcrops extend outward for many miles to
the north, east and west of the Opportunity landing site.
Heat emitted from the terrain during daylight and night passes gave
Hynek a way to assess the make-up of the terrain. That's because bedrock
takes longer to heat up during the day, and conversely, cool down at
night.
"We can tell whether it's rocky or sandy or dusty or soil -- and get a
pretty good gauge on what the surface is actually like," Hynek said.
"So I looked around the landing site and was able to detect these rock
outcrops that the rover was seeing. Then I just started looking farther
and farther away and was able to map them over this huge area."
If those outcrops also are the result of sea deposition, Hynek said, the
ancient body of water once present in the region must have covered an
area larger than the Great Lakes combined. "That's a lot of water," he
added.
Hynek published his findings in the latest issue of the journal Nature.
And he said the data shows the landing region once might have been
harbored primitive life.
"Water is a key ingredient for life on Earth," Hynek said. "So if this
were a longstanding body of water over a very big region, it makes it a
potentially habitable environment."
73, Alan, ZL2VAL @ ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC (Sysop)
IP: zl2val@qsl.net
APRS: 3906.34s/17406.45e]
Message timed: 21:56 on 06-Oct-2004
Message sent using WinPack-AGW V6.80, by Roger Barker G4IDE, SK 9/9/04.
Zen Wisdom
----------
Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I
may not follow. Do not walk beside me, either. Just pretty much leave me
alone.
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