An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
Past, or Future, Vacation Spot
Ok, maybe not, but it is kind of cool!
Pictures prove Mars was once wet
NEW images from US and European spacecraft support growing evidence that Mars was once a water-rich planet, capable of supporting life.
The new views reveal details of regions thought to contain water-bearing minerals and geological formations formed billions of years ago.
Stunning images captured by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera aboard the European Space Agency’s Mars Express show the cliffs, valleys and plateaus of Echus Chasma, thought to have been one of the largest water-source regions on Mars.
Echus Chasma resembles a dry river bed 100km long and 10km wide. It cuts through the Lunae Planum high plateau north of Valles Marineris, the so-called Grand Canyon of Mars.
The images — released yesterday but taken on September 25, 2005 — show side-branching valleys roughly 10km long and 1000m deep.
The water that formed the features may have come from long-ago volcanic activity or the discharge of groundwater from beneath the planet’s surface.
The new pictures provide information that builds on the stunning detail of the land surface and minerals obtained during recent missions to the Red Planet, as well as on the analysis of images reported this week in the journals Nature and Nature Geoscience.
I can think of a few folks I wouldn’t mind sending to check it out.
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“NEW images from US and European spacecraft support growing evidence that Mars was once a water-rich planet, capable of supporting life.”
and then liberal democrats moved there and all intelligent life moved away muttering “there goes the neighborhood”
“NEW images from US and European spacecraft support growing evidence that Mars was once a water-rich planet, capable of supporting life.”
Until that is, Mar’s version of Nancy Pelosi and her moron liberal ilk put a halt to oil drilling because of environmental concerns. The planet was no longer able to sustain life as the Martians once knew it and civilization disappeared. But the planet was saved.