A Rover on the Red Planet! Spirit Will Look at the Geology of Mars
News story originally written on January 14, 2004
NASA’s rover, named Spirit, has landed on Mars and will soon be scouting the surface for interesting geology!
Scientists are interested to know whether the place where Spirit landed was once a lake. Currently, there does not appear to be liquid water at the surface of Mars, but this may not have always been the case. It is possible that large amounts of water were once at the surface. If water was available, living things may have lived there as well.
Spirit is looking at the nearby sedimentary rocks for clues to understand what the environment was like in the past. These types of clues are not just important for understanding Mars. Information from sedimentary rocks is also used to understand what past environments were like on Earth.
Take a look at some sedimentary rocks and environments from Earth to understand what type of clues Spirit is looking for in the Martian rocks!
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