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Engineering Task Force
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Oregon State University Photosynth
More evidence points to past oceans on Mars
00:11 18 November 2008 by Ivan Semeniuk
The chemical fingerprints of a long-vanished ocean on Mars may have been found
in data
from the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft, boosting hopes that the planet could
once
have supported life.
The evidence comes in the form of trace elements located in and around the Red
Planet's
vast northern plains, a low-lying region that might once have held a body of
water large
enough to blanket nearly one-third of the planet.
"This puts a new perspective on the idea of a Martian ocean," says team leader
James
Dohm of the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Up till now, the case for past oceans on Mars has been based largely on two sets
of
features that separate the smooth northern plains from their higher, more rugged
surroundings.
Twelfth International Mars Society Convention
Brookhaven National Laboratory Publication Features FMARS
