Sea may have made Mars habitable - scientists

Scientists today found further evidence that there may once have been life on Mars – the legacy of a salty sea.

Researchers examining pictures taken by one of the Mars rovers, currently scouring the red planet, said they believed they had reached what used to be a sea shore.

“We believe that Opportunity is on the shore line, or what was the shoreline, of a salty sea,” said Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission’s main scientist.

“But we don’t know how laterally expansive this water was, we don’t know how long it was there,” he said.

“But the main thing is we have the capability in the future to find out,” he said.

He went on: “First of all, if we are correct in our interpretations, this was a habitable environment on Mars. This was a shallow sea.

“These are the kinds of environments that are very suitable for life. Now we don’t know that life was there but we have an environment that was suitable for life.”

Speaking at the mission’s headquarters in Pasadena, California, he said it was also the perfect environment to preserve evidence that there was life.

The new findings suggest the pool of saltwater was at least two inches deep.

A rocky outcropping examined by the rover had ripple patterns and concentrations of salt – considered strong signs that the rock formed in standing water.

Dr Squyres said the rover used a microscopic imager on the end of a robotic arm to take more than 150 images of the rocks.

The small images were combined to make a high-resolution mosaic image, showing the signs of water.