NASA Rover finds more signs of past water on Mars (New 01 April)

NASA Rover finds more signs of past water on Mars

By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer
Last Updated 12:57 p.m. PST Thursday, April 1, 2004

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - NASA's Spirit rover discovered more evidence of past water activity on Mars, although not in as great amounts as the twin rover Opportunity found on the other side of the planet, mission scientists said Thursday.

The findings come from analysis of a rock dubbed Mazatzal in the Gusev Crater region where Spirit landed on Jan. 3. Since then Spirit has been overshadowed by Opportunity as it found signs that extensive water, possibly a salty sea, once covered its landing site on Meridiani Planum.

"Evidence at water at Gusev Crater has been hard to come by," Hap McSween, a science team member from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, acknowledged at a Jet Propulsion Laboratory news conference.

But he said findings that Mazatzal had three separate coatings "suggest very strongly that Gusev did have its own water supply."'

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