Free Republic

PASADENA, Calif. - The Mars rover Spirit has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that ancient Mars was wetter than previously thought, scientists reported Monday. The robot analyzed a patch of soil in Gusev Crater and found it was unusually rich in silica. Scientists said the presence of water was necessary to produce such a large silica deposit. "This is a remarkable discovery," principal investigator Steve Squyres of Cornell University said in a statement. "It makes you wonder what else is still out there." Spirit previously found clues of ancient water in the crater through the presence of sulfur-rich soil, water-altered...

NASA's Spirit Mars rover has arrived at a site dubbed "Home Plate" within Gusev crater. But what the robot found has left scientists puzzled. As the Mars machinery relays images of the area, the sightseeing has sparked healthy debate within the team running the mission. "Well, so far it has been great," said Steve Squyres, lead Mars Rover Exploration scientist at Cornell University. "It's the most spectacular layered rock we've ever seen at Gusev," he told SPACE.com. The images relayed so far by Spirit of Home Plate "really are stunning," Squyres added. "Many of us were pretty much reduced to...

The first use of the tools on the arm of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit reveals puzzles about the soil it examined and raises anticipation about what the tool will find during its studies of a martian rock. Today and overnight tonight, Spirit is using its microscope and two up-close spectrometers on a football-sized rock called Adirondack, said Jennifer Trosper, mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We're really happy with the way the spacecraft continues to work for us," Trosper said. The large amount of data -- nearly 100 megabits -- transmitted from Spirit in a single...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 1/4/04 - Gusev Crater, Mars, Kabul BREAKING: Gusev Crater, Mars - American technology doing its thing in a far away place. BREAKING: Kabul, Afghanis freed by the USA. New Constitution planted in a far away place. QFN ==== QUAGMIRE-FREE NEWS Exclusive to FReerepublic PICTURES YOU MAY NEVER SEE IN THE GENERAL MEDIA ========= Gusev Crater ========= A panoramic image taken by NASA's Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft from the surface of Mars, taken after landing January 3, 2004. At Gusev Crater, from the navigation camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, a 360...