NASA scientist's have discovered further evidence that water once flowed on Mars. The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has uncovered veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water.
The team of scientists behind the discovery believe that analysis of the vein will improve understanding of the history of wet environments on Mars.
"This tells a slam-dunk story that water flowed through underground fractures in the rock," insisted Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for Opportunity.
"This stuff is a fairly pure chemical deposit that formed in place right where we see it. That can't be said for other gypsum seen on Mars or for other water-related minerals Opportunity has found. It's not uncommon on Earth, but on Mars, it's the kind of thing that makes geologists jump out of their chairs."
"It is a mystery where the gypsum sand on northern Mars comes from," added another Opportunity science-team member, Benton Clark of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
"At Homestake, we see the mineral right where it formed. It will be important to see if there are deposits like this in other areas of Mars."
The Opportunity team’s latest findings were presented this week at the American Geophysical Union's conference in San Francisco.