Scientists confirm water on Mars ( 2004-01-24 11:16) (Agencies)
Europe's Mars orbiter has detected water molecules vapourizing from the Red
Planet's south pole, scientists announced today, calling it the most direct
evidence yet of water in the form of ice on the Martian surface.
A handout picture
taken by Mars Express, January 15, 2004 from a height of 273 km shows a
channel (Reull Vallis) once formed by flowing water east of the Hellas
basin on Mars. This image was released on January 23, 2004.
[Reuters]
The quest for water on Mars - which could indicate life - has fascinated
scientists for centuries. Mars watchers have long believed that the planet's
poles contain frozen water, but previous scientific findings - including NASA's
Mars Odyssey orbiter's evidence of large amounts of ice - were based more on
inferences, European Space Agency scientists said.
While Mars Odyssey has been able to indirectly show the presence of water at
the pole using temperature monitors, the European camera has for the first time
been able to "literally map the polar cap" using infrared technology that shows
where water molecules are present, said scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring.
"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint, and say this is water
ice," said agency scientist Allen Moorehouse. "This is the first time it's been
detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."
If Mars once had surface water, it had the potential to support life,
although members of the European project have stressed that it remains too early
to draw conclusions.
NASA's Mars Odyssey, which has orbited the planet for two years, previously
turned up evidence of lots of ice mixed with the soil, as little as 40
centimetres from the surface.
James Garvin, lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program, told The
Associated Press today that Mars Express had offered further confirmation of
what scientists have long known: "Mars is a water planet."
"They've seen another way of looking at it," Garvin added.
At a news conference earlier, he said the Express' results were "not
unexpected."
"In terms of the impact, that's wonderful results. It's instant science, and
I think the science community is going to want some time to think about what
that means in the context of what we're learning."
As far back as 1940, scientists using telescopes saw vapours they believed
indicated the presence of water. But in the 1960s the first Mars mission
revealed the planet to be frozen, dry and covered with craters and deep ravines.
Conflicting and inconclusive information has been coming in ever since.
The latest round of Martian exploration, including Mars Express and NASA's
twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are using highly sophisticated instruments
to map the mineralogical makeup of the planet's surface and search for evidence
of past water activity.
While the infrared camera on Mars Express, called OMEGA, analyses reflections
of sunlight to map the surface and determine its mineralogical and atmospheric
composition, the rovers are physically on the ground searching for indications
that water once flowed on the surface.
After two days of silence, NASA picked up a signal from Spirit today, ending
worries that the mission had come to a calamitous end.
In the coming months, European scientists will switch on Mars Express'
powerful radar, which is capable of searching below the surface, beyond the
range of the infrared camera. The radar will be probing for carbonates -
contained in limestone - that would help prove whether water once flowed.
Information from all the instruments, as well as high-resolution images
captured by another camera on the orbiter that has already sent back detailed
pictures of Mars, will be pooled to provide a more complete overall picture.
The data, including Martian atmospheric weather patterns, will be crucial for
planning future Martian missions, including the possibility of landing a human
on the planet, said Michael McKay, European flight operations director.
The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter is part of Europe's first
mission to Mars. Mars Express hit orbit on Christmas Day and began transmitting
its first data from the planet this month.
However, no signal has yet been picked up from its surface probe, the
British-made Beagle II.
