What are the most recent discoveries for water and life existing or have existed on Mars?
Elizabeth McDowell Intermediate High School Millcreek School District Erie, PA ANSWER: Great question, Elizabeth! The Thermal Emission Spectrometer on board the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft recently detected an area near the equator of Mars that is rich in an iron oxide mineral called hematite. The neat thing about hematite is that it is really hard to make without water being present. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) is going to search for other types of minerals that were also formed by water, perhaps by hot springs or ancient, dried up lakes. The main types of minerals we’ll be looking for are called sulfates and carbonates. In addition to THEMIS, there is another instrument on board Odyssey called the Gamma Ray Spectrometer. This instrument detects hydrogen below the surface of Mars. We assume that all or most of the hydrogen is in water, so this instrument is really detecting water. As far as life being present, we don’t have any evidence of that yet. We’re still lo
