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Put Mars Photos on Your Desktop: We have wallpaper images ready for use as a background on your computer monitor. Check them out! (Updated Feb. 26.) Most Recent Articles: March 2, 2004 NASA Announces Strong Evidence Mars Had Water Scientists have concluded the part of Mars that NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history. Steve Squyres of Cornell University said, "Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry. We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion." Squyres is the principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit. Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and lunar exploration at NASA Headquarters, Washington, said, "NASA launched the Mars Exploration Rover mission specifically to check whether at least one part of Mars ever had a persistently wet environment that could possibly have been hospitable to life. Today we have strong evidence for an exciting answer: Yes." El Capitan False Color Image Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell Opportunity's Empty Lander Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell   Opportunity Spies Crater on Horizon Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell/MSSS The Texture of El Capitan Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell > Read the rest of this article February 26, 2004 Ripples, Rocks and Dust NASA Mars Rover Opportunity is partway through several days of detailed observations and composition measurements at a portion of the rock outcrop in the crater where it landed last month. It used its rock abrasion tool this week for the first time, exposing a fresh rock surface for examination. That surface will be studied with its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer for identifying chemical elements and with its Mössbauer spectrometer for identifying iron-bearing minerals. With that rock-grinding session, all the tools have now been used on both rovers. Dr. Ray Arvidson, deputy principal investigator for the rovers' science work, predicted that in two weeks or so, Opportunity will finish observations in its landing-site crater and be ready to move out to the surrounding flatland. At about that same time, Spirit may reach the rim of a larger crater nicknamed "Bonneville" and send back pictures of what's inside. Ripples on the Martian Surface Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell   Charlie Flats Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL/Cornell > Read the rest of this article February 19, 2004 Rovers Digging Up Discoveries By inspecting the sides and floor of a hole it dug on Mars, NASA's Opportunity rover is finding some things it did not see beforehand, including round pebbles that are shiny and soil so fine-grained that the rover's microscope can't make out individual particles. "What's underneath is different than what's at the immediate surface," said Dr. Albert Yen, rover science team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Meanwhile, NASA's other Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, has reached a site with such interesting soil that scientists have decided to robotically dig a hole there, too. Spirit's trenching at a shallow depression dubbed "Laguna Hollow" could answer questions about whether traits on the soil surface resulted from repeated swelling and shrinking of an upper layer bearing concentrated brine, among other possibilities. > Read the rest of this article February 17, 2004 Opportunity Digs, Spirit Advances NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has scooped a trench with one of its wheels to reveal what is below the surface of a selected patch of soil. The rover alternately pushed soil forward and backward out of the trench with its right front wheel while other wheels held the rover in place. The rover turned slightly between bouts of digging to widen the hole. Jeffrey Biesiadecki, a rover planner at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained, "We took a patient, gentle approach to digging." The process lasted 22 minutes. The Trench Opportunity Dug Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL   Spirit Making Tracks Away from Lander Click for larger image Courtesy NASA/JPL > Read the rest of this article February 13, 2004 NASA and ESA Form Communications Network Around Mars NASA today announced that a pioneering demonstration of communications between the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and the European Space Agency Mars Express orbiter was successful. On February 6, while Mars Express was flying over the area Spirit was examining, the orbiter transferred commands from Earth to the rover and relayed data from the robotic explorer back to Earth. > Read the rest of this article   > See entire list of Mars news articles > See entire list of Mars photos and images