Mars rover eyes hot spring-like deposits

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Deposits of silica detected in 2007 by the US robot Spirit on Mars were formed by volcanic vapors or hot-spring-type events crossing through soil and could contain traces of past life, scientists found in a study out Thursday.

The silica discovery, which NASA announced briefly last year, is fully described in paper in the May 23, 2008 issue of Science. Its lead author is Steven Squyres of Cornell University, investigator for the rover science payload.

"On Earth, hydrothermal deposits teem with life and the associated silica deposits typically contain fossil remains of microbes," said Jack Farmer, professor of astrobiology in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Farmer is a co-author....