Opinion - News Analysis   

Vast lakes on Mars

New images of Mars suggest an ancient waterway in the planet’s southern highlands broke through the wall of a giant crater, flooding a huge lake with water and clay minerals.

The spread of deposits across the base of the 25-mile-wide Jezero crater shows that extensive water must have persisted in the lakebed for thousands of years, suggesting the planet was once host to vast lakes and flowing rivers that could perhaps hav e supported life.

“The big surprise from these new results is how pervasive and long-lasting Mars’ water was,” said Scott Murchie at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

The image, published in the journal Nature and Nature Geosciences, is among several taken recently by a camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The maps will help NASA officials decide on landing sites for future missions, including the Mars Science Laboratory, due to launch late next year. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Grappling with financial crisis
Hizbollah’s double coup
Missing the wood for the trees
NREGA: ship without rudder?
Towards an alternative to IMF, World Bank
Vast lakes on Mars
Corrections and Clarifications
Politics & nuclear deal
Give it a chance
Shoulder to shoulder

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu