O/T Jack - do you suppose there were once vineyards on Mars?

.... and to keep it on topic (although interupting the important Managua
election spam), if there was water on that planet, do you think there were
boats? ... %)

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/05/21/mars-water.html
Rover discovery supports idea life was possible on Mars: NASA

Last Updated: Monday, May 21, 2007 | 11:34 PM ET
CBC News

A soil analysis by the Mars rover Spirit strongly suggests that the Red
Planet was once wet, providing evidence of conditions that might have
supported life, NASA scientists said Monday.


Spirit found soil that is rich in silica, and "the processes that could have
produced such a concentrated deposit of silica require the presence of
water," it said in a release.


The discovery "reinforces the fact that significant amounts of water were
present in Mars' past, which continues to spur the hope that we can show
that Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life," said Doug
McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars exploration program.

"This is a remarkable discovery," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University,
principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments. "You could hear
people gasp in astonishment."

Spirit did the analysis while exploring a low range of hills named Gusev
Crater, where it had found other indicators of water, such as patches of
water-bearing soil. The newly discovered patch of soil has been given the
informal name "Gertrude Weise," after a player in the All-American Girls
Professional Baseball League.

The find was disclosed during a recent teleconference of rover scientists.
One revealed that Spirit's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, a chemical
analyzer at the end of the rover's arm, had found that Gertrude Weise was
about 90 per cent pure silica.

Spirit worked within about 50 metres of the Gertrude Weise area for more
than 18 months before the discovery was made.

Meanwhile, Spirit's twin Opportunity has been exploring Victoria Crater for
about eight months.

The two rovers finished their main three-month missions in April 2004. Both
are still operating, although showing signs of age.

"One of Spirit's six wheels no longer rotates, so it leaves a deep track as
it drags through soil," NASA said.

That exposed patches of soil, leading to discoveries



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