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European Space Agency's Mars Express is already sending back spectacular close-up
High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) images and have announced there is water
on Mars. Mars Express detected ice at the Red Planet's south pole, mission officials
at Darmstadt, Germany, said Friday. "We have already identified water vapor
in the atmosphere," scientist Vittorio Formisano said. "We have identified
water ice on the soil on the south polar caps." The High-Resolution camera
is the best sent to Mars thus far to search for the geological features that
betray the presence of water and look for ancient oceans. It will make the first
ever sub-surface investigation of Mars, using radar to penetrate down to three
or four kilometers below the surface. It may even reveal underground lakes of
ice or water.
Mars 'Opportunity' Lander Shows Blue Skies
The twin rover Mars Lander called Opportunity landed successfully on Mars on January 24, 2004, at 12:05 PM EST, and soon began beaming images back to Earth from showing as we predicted Mars' blue skies. Video released to the news media for the first time showed blue skies on national TV. NASA has apparently decided to show the actual sky color rather than the red tinted version shown up to now. Blue skies indicate atmosphere much greater than previously thought. The solar-powered rover is equipped with tools to scratch and drill into rocks and to examine the soil. Opportunity should operate for at least the next three months to look for water. Both Mars Landers have landed in areas that appear to have water near the surface. Just when the Spirit Lander was supposed to do its first drilling into the pyramid-shaped rock in the Gusev Crater its data stream shut down. Spirit has not sent any images or scientific data since January 21st, when it discovered a rock with a square hole. Some people are asking why the Lander shut down just when it might find water or other interesting artifacts?
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