News from Opportunity from Mars

2004/03/04 Lexartza Artza, Irantzu - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Astronomia

strong>The Opportunity vehicle sent to Mars has shown that the rocks around it were in contact with liquid water. According to NASA scientists, this means that they were suitable conditions for life.

To reach this conclusion two main evidences have been used: on the one hand, the shape of the stones (cross-stratification of the rocks, spherical particles found and cracks) and on the other, the large amount of sulfate salts. These salts are formed in the water or, once formed, are transformed by their permanence in the water.

However, finding the right conditions for life does not mean that it has been alive, and at the moment you cannot know that. Opportunity and Spirit are not prepared for the search for life, so it highlights the need for future samples to be brought to Earth laboratories.