Europe's Mars orbiter has detected water molecules vaporizing
from the Red Planet's south pole, scientists announced on
January 24, calling it the most direct evidence yet of water in the
form of ice on the Martian surface.
The quest for water on Mars -- which could indicate life -- has
fascinated scientists for centuries. Mars watchers have long
believed that the planet's poles contain frozen water, but previous
scientific findings -- including NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter's
evidence of large amounts of ice -- were based more on inferences,
European Space Agency scientists said.
While Mars Odyssey has been able to indirectly show the presence
of water at the pole using temperature monitors, the European
camera has for the first time been able to "literally map the polar
cap" using infrared technology that shows where water molecules are
present, said scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring.
"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint, and say this
is water ice," said agency scientist Allen Moorehouse. "This is the
first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first
direct confirmation."
If Mars once had surface water, it had the potential to support
life, although members of the European project have stressed that
it remains too early to draw conclusions.
NASA's Mars Odyssey, which has orbited the planet for two years,
previously turned up evidence of lots of ice mixed with the soil,
as little as 40 centimeters from the surface.
James Garvin, lead scientist for NASA's Mars exploration
program, told The Associated Press that Mars Express had offered
further confirmation of what scientists have long known: "Mars is a
water planet."
"They've seen another way of looking at it," Garvin added.
At a news conference earlier, he said the Express' results were
"not unexpected."
"In terms of the impact, that's wonderful results. It's instant
science, and I think the science community is going to want some
time to think about what that means in the context of what we're
learning."
As far back as 1940, scientists using telescopes saw vapors they
believed indicated the presence of water. But in the 1960s the
first Mars mission revealed the planet to be frozen, dry and
covered with craters and deep ravines.
Conflicting and inconclusive information has been coming in ever
since.
The latest round of Martian exploration, including Mars Express
and NASA's twin rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are using highly
sophisticated instruments to map the mineralogical makeup of the
planet's surface and search for evidence of past water
activity.
While the infrared camera on Mars Express, called OMEGA,
analyses reflections of sunlight to map the surface and determine
its mineralogical and atmospheric composition, the rovers are
physically on the ground searching for indications that water once
flowed on the surface.
After two days of silence, NASA picked up a signal from Spirit
on January 24, ending worries that the mission had come to a
calamitous end.
In the coming months, European scientists will switch on Mars
Express' powerful radar, which is capable of searching below the
surface, beyond the range of the infrared camera. The radar will be
probing for carbonates -- contained in limestone -- that would help
prove whether water once flowed.
Information from all the instruments, as well as high-resolution
images captured by another camera on the orbiter that has already
sent back detailed pictures of Mars, will be pooled to provide a
more complete overall picture.
The data, including Martian atmospheric weather patterns, will
be crucial for planning future Martian missions, including the
possibility of landing a human on the planet, said Michael McKay,
European flight operations director.
The European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter is part of
Europe's first mission to Mars. Mars Express hit orbit on Christmas
Day and began transmitting its first data from the planet this
month.
However, no signal has yet been picked up from its surface
probe, the British-made Beagle II.
(China Daily January 24, 2004)