SCIENCE

By Rob Brit

Mars rover finds evidence that red planet could once have supported life

The ground would have been suitable for life

Photo: A crater called Fesenkov, imagined here to be full of water

WASHINGTON (AP) - Mars was once soaked with water, enough to support life in a "good, habitable environment," NASA scientists said Tuesday after reviewing data from the Mars rover Opportunity, although they said the finding doesn't prove that life existed. "Opportunity has landed in an area of Mars where liquid water once drenched the surface," said Edward Weiler, associate NASA administrator for space science, at a news conference. "This area would have been a good, habitable environment." A study of a fine, layered rock by the rover detected evidence of sulfates and other minerals that form in the presence of water. The finding does suggest that if there had been life present when the rocks were formed, then the living conditions could have permitted an organism to flourish. The study, however, has found no direct evidence of living organisms.

"The ground would have been suitable for life," said Steve Squyres, lead investigator for science instruments on Opportunity. "That doesn't mean life was there. We don't know that." Opportunity found "an astounding amount of salt," said Benton Clark, a member of the rover team. This was found not only on the surface but confirmed when the rover bored into a rock outcropping with its abrasion tool. "The only way you can form such large concentrations of salt is dissolve it in water and allow the water to evaporate," Clark said. NASA launched the Mars Exploration Rover mission to see whether "at least one part

Photo: Colossal Flood. Melted snow and ice from volcano eruptions could have caused torrential muddy floods, researchers say. Here, the Kasei Valles outflow channels are envisioned

of Mars had a persistently wet environment that could possibly have been hospitable to life," James Garvin, a lead NASA scientist, said in a statement. "Today we have strong evidence for an exciting answer: Yes." It was a day of developments in space research. Tuesday also marked the launch of a European spacecraft on a 10-year journey to land on an icy comet in search of answers about the birth of the solar system and the origins of life on Earth. The three-tonne Rosetta craft, which is being commanded by European Space Agency controllers in Darmstadt, Germany, is headed for a comet called 67P/Churymov-Gerasimenko, an irregular chunk of ice, frozen gases and dust discovered in 1969 by Soviet astronomers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko. On Mars, Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit, are controlled by a team of scientists working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Scientists there earlier in the week said they had found exciting results from the work of Opportunity. Details were not immediately available.

Note: Gallery of amazing photos on the following pages.