Page 308 - NS-2 Textbook

ASTRONOMY 303

A photo of part of the surface of Mars taken from the Mars Pathfinder's Carl Sagan base station, showing landmarks named the "Twin Peaks"
on the horizon. The appearance of the rocks has led scientists to conclude that the area was once washed by a huge flood, with enough water
to fill the Mediterranean basin on Earth, a billion or more years ago. There is much speculation about the origin of this water and where it
all went. JPL/NASA

months Pathfi11der returned many high-quality images of portll11ity found layered bedrock at its location bearing ge-
the planet and other scientific data. ological evidence of an ancient body of shallow water.
Even more successful than Pathfi11der were two larger Both sent back hundreds of detailed photographs, many
and more capable rovers sent to Mars in the midsummer showing their tracks through the Martian terrain.
of 2003. One of these, called Spirit, landed in Januaty 2004 Additional missions to Mars have been planned for
in a rocky outcrop called Gusev Crater, and the other, Op- the next several years, including several more orbiters
portll11ity, landed three weeks later on the opposite side of and large rovers, a lander equipped with a robotic arm
Mars in a sandy area called the Meridiani plains. Al- for digging deep into the northern plains area in search
though their missions were originally plmmed to last of signs of life, and by 2014, a lander able to return sam-
tlu·ee months, both were still operational much later. Ulti- ples of Martian rock and soil to Earth. A mission sending
mately Spirit found more evidence of igneous rocks ex- astronauts to Mars may be a possibility sometime there-
tensively altered by ancient exposure to watel; and Op- after. Ultimately all these explorations may one day re-