Mark Turner's Mysterious World: More Evidence That Ancient Mars Could Support Life Found by Old Rover

5/22/13

More Evidence That Ancient Mars Could Support Life Found by Old Rover

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Megan Gannon
Space.com

The venerable Mars rover Opportunity, the older and smaller cousin of Curiosity, has discovered another water-weathered rock hinting that the Red Planet could have supported life in its ancient past, NASA officials said.

In its last days exploring "Cape York," a site on the rim of the giant Endeavour crater, the Opportunity rover examined a fractured rock unlike any it has seen during its nine years on Mars, researchers say.

With data from a camera and spectrometer on the rover's robotic arm, researchers found that the rock, dubbed "Esperance," is a relic of a wetter time on Mars when life may have been possible.