mars rovers find more evidence of water Mars Rovers Find More...

mars rovers find more evidence of water Mars Rovers Find More Evidence of Water

"PA"

The twin Mars rovers have found more evidence the Red Planet once had water, Nasa scientists say.

The robotic vehicles landed in January and first found signs in March that Mars had water aeons ago.

The Spirit rover has now rolled nearly two miles across the plains of its Gusev Crater landing site and into an area dubbed the Columbia Hills.

Perched about 30 feet above a plain, it recently found indications water had altered an outcropping of bedrock dubbed Clovis, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said.

Sulphur, chlorine and bromine found inside the rock were in much greater concentrations than in rocks on the plain. Those elements are commonly emitted from volcanoes and could have combined with liquid water or water vapour, said Doug Ming, a science team member.

“We have a more thorough, deeper alteration, suggesting much more water,” said Steve Squires, principal investigator for science instruments aboard the rovers.

Meanwhile, halfway around the planet, the Opportunity rover has rolled about 32 feet into Endurance Crater, a stadium-sized depression. At the bottom, it found rippled dunes and a bizarre rock with a lumpy, rounded appearance.

Scientists are not sure how the rock was formed. “It doesn’t look like anything we’ve seen anywhere,” Squires said.