NASA Rover Finds Convincing Evidence of Water on Ancient Mars - Polidicks

[release][t]http://i.space.com/images/i/13726/original/mineral-opportunity.jpg?1323300047[/t] A well-traveled NASA Mars rover has found some of the best evidence yet that water flowed on the Red Planet's surface long ago, researchers announced today (Dec. 7). The Opportunity rover, which landed on Mars nearly eight years ago, has discovered a thin, bright mineral vein along the rim of a huge crater called Endeavour. This mineral is almost certainly gypsum that was deposited by liquid water billions of years ago, researchers said. "This is the single most powerful piece of evidence for liquid water at Mars that has been discovered by the Opportunity rover," Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Opportunity's principal investigator, told reporters here today during the 2011 winter meeting of the American Geophysical Union. [IMG]http://i.space.com/images/i/13725/i02/mineral-vein.jpg?1323300006[/IMG] [B]Exploring Endeavour Crater[/B] The golf-cart-size Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, landed on Mars in January 2004 to search for signs of past water activity on the Red Planet. The two rovers' prime missions were slated to last just three months, but both far outlived their warranties. NASA declared Spirit dead just this year, and Opportunity is still going strong. After a three-year trek, Opportunity reached the 14-mile-wide (22-kilometer) Endeavour Crater this past August. While poking around Endeavour's rim recently, it found the mineral vein, which is about 20 inches (51 centimeters) long and about the width of a human thumb. After analyzing the vein with Opportunity's cameras and X-ray spectrometer last month, researchers concluded that it is gypsum, a hydrated calcium sulfate that on Earth is used to make drywall and plaster of Paris. The vein likely formed right where Opportunity found it, researchers said. "There was a fracture in the rock, water flowed through it, gypsum was precipitated from the water. End of story," Squyres said. "There's no ambiguity about this, and this is what makes it so cool." [B]Strong evidence [/B] Both Spirit and Opportunity have found other good evidence of water activity on ancient Mars, including signs of hydrothermal systems. But the new discovery at Endeavour Crater is particularly convincing and compelling, researchers said. "Here, both the chemistry, mineralogy, and the morphology just scream water," Squyres said. "This is more solid than anything else that we've seen in the whole mission." The gypsum vein is also intriguing for scientists interested in whether or not Mars was ever capable of supporting life. Some of the ancient wet environments Spirit and Opportunity have found were likely very acidic. But gypsum formation is consistent with (though not dependent on) a more neutral and therefore benign pH, researchers said. There's no water at Endeavour today, however. It's bone-dry, like the rest of Mars appears to be.[B] Opportunity keeps rolling [/B] Opportunity is showing a few signs of its advanced age, such as an arthritic shoulder joint in its robotic arm. But the robot just keeps chugging along, and should continue to do so into the future. "She's in excellent health," said Bruce Banerdt, rover project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is far from being a rickety old rover." Opportunity should keep roving until next month, when it will position itself in a favorable spot to wait out the frigid Martian winter. The robot won't shut down during this time, researchers said; it will remain awake, studying the rocks around it and perhaps even moving a few feet now and then. If all goes well, the rover should put its traveling shoes back on next summer sometime, Banerdt told SPACE.com. The team isn't sure how far Opportunity can go or how long it will last on Mars, but they're happy they can still go along for the ride. "Every day is like a gift," Squyres told SPACE.com.[/release] [URL="http://www.space.com/13862-mars-rover-opportunity-ancient-water-evidence.html"]Source[/URL]

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I totally forgot about opportunity.

That's pretty awesome. Also it's good to see that Opportunity's mission is still going well.

So now we can definitely say that there has been water on Mars ?

wow that thing is [I]still[/I] running? Amazing!

Wow, its really been 8 years since they landed? Who is going to post the obligatory rover comic that is posted in every thread about them?

[QUOTE=Cmx;33633087]Wow, its really been 8 years since they landed? Who is going to post the obligatory rover comic that is posted in every thread about them?[/QUOTE] No please, it makes me cry.

Those rovers are awesome.

Just wait until Curiosity lands.

I want to hear audio tapes from mars, not joking, always wanted to hear what the environment sounds like.

[QUOTE=MC3craze;33633137]Just wait until Curiosity lands.[/QUOTE] Then him and Opportunity can be friends. I don't think Opportunity has yet to fully come to terms with Spirit's death but I'm hopping Curiosity will help with that.

[QUOTE=TankMan;33633337]I want to hear audio tapes from mars, not joking, always wanted to hear what the environment sounds like.[/QUOTE] Like outdoors. Not that any facepuncher would know how that sounds...wolololo

[QUOTE=TankMan;33633337]I want to hear audio tapes from mars, not joking, always wanted to hear what the environment sounds like.[/QUOTE] I'd imagine it would sound like Arctic winds. Either way I'd love to hear how it sounds aswell.

I do hope by the time we get manned flights to Mars, they'll still be operational so they can be extracted and given a hero's welcome back home. Edit: It's fucking awe-inspiring to look at those pictures and just think "This isn't some backyard wasteland across the road from your house... this is the landscape of an entirely different planet tens of millions of kilometers away from where you sit at that very moment.

[QUOTE=MadPro119;33633104]No please, it makes me cry.[/QUOTE] only facepunch users could get emotional about a malfunctioned robot on another freaking planet

[QUOTE=Gubbinz96;33633769]I'd imagine it would sound like Arctic winds. Either way I'd love to hear how it sounds aswell.[/QUOTE] I would imagine it sounds like a desert, with sand blowing everywhere.

[img]http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/emot-science.gif[/img]

Opportunity is kicking ass right now. Holy shit, it's survived 30 times longer than the expected mission, but unfortunately Spirit bit the dust (literally). Also the mission patches are so awesome: [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Nasa_mer_daffy.jpg[/img]

I thought there already was a pretty well proven theory that most of mars was covered in glaciers at some point? I could just be pulling claims out of my ass but I could have sworn I had read something about that before.

[QUOTE=Mp6;33634022]I thought there already was a pretty well proven theory that most of mars was covered in glaciers at some point? I could just be pulling claims out of my ass but I could have sworn I had read something about that before.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/nov/HQ_08-304_MRO_BuriedGlaciers.html"]Here you go, good sir.[/URL]

[QUOTE=MadPro119;33633104]No please, it makes me cry.[/QUOTE] [img]http://oi53.tinypic.com/34qqu5h.jpg[/img] Couldn't resist.

[QUOTE=salty peanut v2;33633840]only facepunch users could get emotional about a malfunctioned robot on another freaking planet[/QUOTE] Says the guy that glorifies squeaking anime creatures.

I wonder what happened to all the water. Did it seep into the ground or get lost in space?

[QUOTE=Dark-Energy;33634143][img]http://oi53.tinypic.com/34qqu5h.jpg[/img] Couldn't resist.[/QUOTE] Sandstorm? More like snowstorm.

[QUOTE=Dr.C;33634486]I wonder what happened to all the water. Did it seep into the ground or get lost in space?[/QUOTE] If it's not frozen, it was, at some point, completely evaporated? Makes me wonder what happened to the vapor...

[QUOTE=Fort83;33633950]That rover was supposed to last 3 months, and it has lasted 6 years, if that isn't amazing i don't know what is[/QUOTE] Nasa does it's shit right, the Voyagers and one Pioneer are still shooting along out there.

[QUOTE=just-a-boy;33634840]If it's not frozen, it was, at some point, completely evaporated? Makes me wonder what happened to the vapor...[/QUOTE] Knocked off by solar winds I imagine.

Wait, Spirit died? When did that happen?