Evidence Of Carbonate Suggests Prehistoric Washes

Hey, Houston. Guess what? There may be water in them thar hills. Just as NASA's scientists recover from this week's exciting Mars landing, some new information is causing a renewed buzz within the space agency. It seems NASA's Spirit spacecraft has detected carbonate particles, which may indicate water once flowed on the barren, red planet some time ago. The instrument that made the discovery is an infrared camera designed to sense the composition of material from afar by measuring heat emissions.

While Mars mission scientist Phil Christensen says the presence of the mineral might mean the material may be a remnant of rocks that formed in water from dissolved carbonate particles, he warns that doesn't necessarily mean the spacecraft is sitting on an ancient lake bed.

So, while the initial results are promising, the golf-cart sized six-wheeled robotic explorer will have to examine nearby rocks once it eventually leaves its temporary home on the Spirit lander.

However, that roving expedition may be delayed a few days thanks to a problem caused by the airbags used to cushion its landing. NASA scientists say the bags cannot be fully retracted and will continue to block its path down Spirit's front ramp.

To get around this problem, engineers have decided to rotate the lander one-third of a turn to the right and roll it off a secondary ramp on the lander's side. This movement is scheduled for next week, so we'll all have to sit tight, along with the rover, until then.

FMI: www.mars.jpl.nasa.gov