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NASA analyzes Mars sample

March 12, 2013

A rock sample taken by the Curiosity rover has shown that Mars could have once supported life, according to US space agency NASA. The findings add to previous indicators of water on the red planet.

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High-Resolution Self-Portrait by Curiosity Rover Arm Camera On Sol 84 (Oct. 31, 2012), NASA's Curiosity rover used the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) to capture this set of 55 high-resolution images, which were stitched together to create this full-color self-portrait. The mosaic shows the rover at "Rocknest," the spot in Gale Crater where the mission's first scoop sampling took place. Four scoop scars can be seen in the regolith in front of the rover. The base of Gale Crater's 3-mile-high (5-kilometer) sedimentary mountain, Mount Sharp, rises on the right side of the frame. Mountains in the background to the left are the northern wall of Gale Crater. The Martian landscape appears inverted within the round, reflective ChemCam instrument at the top of the rover's mast. Self-portraits like this one document the state of the rover and allow mission engineers to track changes over time, such as dust accumulation and wheel wear. Due to its location on the end of the robotic arm, only MAHLI (among the rover's 17 cameras) is able to image some parts of the craft, including the port-side wheels. This high-resolution mosaic is a more detailed version of the low-resolution version created with thumbnail images, at: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA16238 . Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems Quelle: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/images/?ImageID=4845
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems

The US space agency has long been trying to determine whether Mars could sustain life, either in the present or the past. On Tuesday, NASA said at a press conference at its Washington headquarters that minerals found in a rock sample showed the planet was habitable at some point.

"From what we know now, the answer is yes," NASA's Mars Exploration Program lead scientist, Michael Meyer, said.

NASA's rover, named Curiosity, landed near the Martian equator in early August. Thus far, the $2.5-billion rolling laboratory has already uncovered new information during its few months roaming the Gale Crater area.

In late September, the six-wheeled rover documented stream bed gravel. While the finding excited scientists working with the program, they said that proof of water was not necessarily proof of life. 

However, the subsequent probe into sedimentary bedrock showed the presence of clay minerals - including hydrogen, carbon and oxygen - and sulfates, the basis of life, NASA scientists said on Tuesday.

"We have found a habitable environment that is so benign and supportive of life, that probably if this water was around and you had been there, you would have been able to drink it," said John Grotzinger, Curiosity project scientist from the California Institute of Technology.

The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission is scheduled to continue exploration until 2014, during which time scientists hope the rover can collect more samples that help them come closer to an answer about life on the red planet.

kms/hc (AFP, AP)