Spirit Rover's 'Pot of Gold' Points to Past
Water
PASADENA, CALIF. - Both of
NASA's Mars rover vehicles have discovered
more signs of past water. At a site about
3.3 kilometres from its landing site, the
Spirit rover has found a rare, knobby rock
about the size of a softball that contains
the mineral hematite. On Earth, the mineral
normally forms in the presence of water, but
it can also have a volcanic origin. "This
rock has the shape as if somebody took a
potato and stuck toothpicks in it, then put
jelly beans on the end of the toothpicks,"
said Steve Squyres, the lead scientist for
the rover mission… The rover has
photographed the rock and measured its
mineral contents. NASA scientists, who've
dubbed the rock Pot of Gold, hope the data
will help them determine if the hematite had
a watery origin. NASA plans to have the
rover drill into the rock's interior. Spirit
will mark six months on the Red Planet at
the end of this week.
On the opposite side of Mars,
Spirit's twin, Opportunity, is exploring a
stadium-sized crater, where it has found
more signs of sulphate salts. The salts
suggest there was more water than scientists
thought. “It looks like there were periods
of wetting and drying for the shallow
water”, Squyres told a news conference
Friday. In March, Opportunity found evidence
that Eagle Crater once was soaked in water.
Both rovers have surpassed their scheduled
three-month mission on Mars.
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