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Article: MARS: Great Lakes?(investigation of evidence for life on mars)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science World
- Article date:
- February 12, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Scholastic, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In NASA scientists' hunt for life on Mars, they don't expect to find billboards advertising "Welcome to the Red Planet!" But every new piece of evidence edges them closer to an extraordinary revelation: Life existed--and might still exist--on Mars.
The latest images captured by Mars Global Surveyor detail layered rock formations like swirled cake frosting in canyons and craters --some more than 3,219 meters (2 miles) deep. The formations could be remnants of lake beds in which liquid water once gushed on the now-frigid, barren planet. "We think these thin rock layers formed underwater," says NASA researcher Michael Malin. "It's hard to come up with an ...