Though most of the Red Planet news these days is about NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, the spotlight was focused solely on the space agency’s Mars Opportunity rover Friday. Working for the past 20 months in an area called “Cape York,” the veteran Mars rover has confirmed that the planet was once water rich. Before leaving Cape York for “Solander Point,” Opportunity utilized several of its scientific instruments, including the rock abrasion tool, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer and the microscopic imager on its robotic arm, to study a rock called “Esperance.” In doing so, Opportunity discovered a combination of elements suggesting clay-mineral composition. The New York Times reports that Esperance is one of the oldest rocks that the veteran Mars rover has examined since touching down on the Red Planet nearly ten years ago. The newspaper also points out that the presence of elements like aluminum, calcium and magnesium led Opportunity scientists to conclude that Esperance is extremely rich in clay minerals, which could have come about from a lot of water moving over volcanic rocks. “This is water that you can drink,” Cornell astronomer Steve Squyres, principal investigator for Opportunity’s Mars mission, told reporters, according to NBCNews.com. “A lot of water moved through this rock,” Squyres added in a NASA news release. Read more http://thespacereporter.com/2013/06...s-traces-left-by-water-you-can-drink-on-mars/
