NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars Options

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Dec. 4, 2006

Dwayne Brown/Erica Hupp
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726/1237

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-186

NASA SCHEDULES BRIEFING TO ANNOUNCE SIGNIFICANT FIND ON MARS

WASHINGTON - NASA hosts a news briefing at 1 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec.
6, to present new science results from the Mars Global Surveyor. The
briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters auditorium located
at 300 E Street, S.W. in Washington and carried live on NASA
Television and www.nasa.gov.

The agency last week announced the spacecraft's mission may be at its
end. Mars Global Surveyor has served the longest and been the most
productive of any spacecraft ever sent to the red planet. Data
gathered from the mission will continue to be analyzed by scientists.


Panelists include:
- Michael Meyer -- Lead Scientist, Mars Exploration Program, NASA
Headquarters, Washington
- Michael Malin -- President and Chief Scientist, Malin Space Science
Systems, San Diego, Calif.
- Kenneth Edgett -- Scientist, Malin Space Science Systems
- Philip Christensen -- Professor, Arizona State University, Tempe,
Ariz.

[Stu]

sigh... okay... so this isn't brand new "news", we all suspected what was going on, and little voices in our heads have been saying "water carved" ever since the first gullies were spotted... and yes, that image is over-dramatised, a real gully"burst" wouldn't be anything like as violent... and no, this wasn't as heart-pumpingly exciting as Spirit's EDL or Oppy's triumphant, knackered roll up to the rim of Victoria.... but come ON people!!! WATER ON MARS!!!! I refuse to let anyone spoil this night for me, not after I've longed for this news for so long. Get your dirty wet blanket away from my fire! I'm going to spend the night sitting by it under the stars, watching the golden sparks rise into the air, imagining each one is Mars, complete with gullies of steaming, silver-scaled water...

[centsworth_II]

.... but come ON people!!! WATER ON MARS!!!! I refuse to let anyone spoil this night for me, not after I've longed for this news for so long....

The reason this news IS really exciting is that for the first time we can think of sending instruments to examine material which recently interacted with liquid water on Mars. Previously it was looking like we would have to wait for a machine which could drill hundreds of meters beneath the surface. The big question now is was the water ancient ice, melted and released in one brief event or are there liquid aquifers which occasionally find their way to the surface?