NASA Finds Evidence of Water on Mars
Planet once may have had conditions that might have supported life
NASA'S Mars rover Opportunity has discovered evidence of water on the planet. Indeed, Opportunity was able to find enough evidence of nonacidic drinkable water that researchers believed Mars may have at one point had favorable conditions to sustain life.
The rover has been investigating Mars for a decade and is a part of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission launched in 2003. The second rover involved in that mission, Spirit, ceased being operational in 2010 after getting stuck in soft soil on Mars.
Opportunity was investigating "Cape York" when researchers discovered a cracked rock they believed had evidence of water. The features of the rock, called "Esperance," had been changed by running water, and the researchers believe there was more than just trace amounts of evidence due to the erosion as well as the rock's composition, NASA said in a statement.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?