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'Perfect' day on Mars yields evidence of ancient floods

plain Latest developments: July 8, 1997
Web posted at: 12:08 a.m. EDT (0408 GMT)

PASADENA, California (CNN) -- On a day in which every aspect of the Mars Pathfinder mission functioned perfectly, scientists got what they say is photographic proof that there were once enormous floods on the red planet.

"This was huge," said Michael Malin, one of the Pathfinder scientists. "A comparable flood on Earth would be one that filled the Mediterranean Basin."

The mission scientists speculated that the flooding was hundreds of miles wide and moved at a rate of about 35 million cubic feet (one million cubic meters) per second. Malin estimated that the flood occurred between 1 billion and 3 billion years ago.

The photographs, taken by the Pathfinder's lander, show boulders stacked against each other as if piled up by flood waters.

Malin said he thought the crusts on the rocks were formed by sediment and salt from floodwaters as they receded, leaving puddles on the rocks. A similar crusting pattern could be seen on rocks in Hawaii thrown out by volcanic activity, he said.

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    'The implications are enormous'

    Geologists have known since the Viking missions 21 years ago that giants floods once swept Mars, but the Pathfinder pictures provide the best evidence yet.

    A L S O :

    Opinion Poll: Mars Exploration

    Having overcome a communications problem Saturday, the lander and the rover were communicating "perfectly" Monday.

    "We had a very productive day," said project scientist Matthew Golombek. "The spacecraft is operating perfectly, the rover is working perfectly and the instruments are working perfectly."

    With all systems go, scientists could confirm their suspicions about ancient flooding and entertain again the ever-present question about life on the planet.

    "Could early Mars have been much warmer and wetter?" Golombek asked. "The implications are enormous because liquid water is the key ingredient for life."

    Although the intent of this mission is not to determine whether life ever existed on Mars, finding the answer is a long-term goal of the Mars expeditionary programs. Four more landers are to be sent to the planet over the next eight years to see if life, even in its most primitive form, ever existed there.

    Scientists also want to know where the water went and what happened to what they believe was an atmosphere that was once as dense as Earth's.

    Signs of flood clear in 'Monster Pan'

    Signs of the flooding were clearly visible in what the Pathfinder scientists refer to as "The Monster Pan" -- a panoramic view of the dusty red Martian surface and a salmon colored sky viewed best as a video.

    The "Pan" is a composite made up of hundreds of images. Other photos Monday showed the Sojourner rover near a rock almost as big as itself called Barnacle Bill by the crew at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

    sojourner

    Sojourner, a six-wheeled vehicle about the size of a microwave oven, backed up to the rock late on Sunday and scanned it with its alpha proton X-ray spectrometer for 10 hours, sending a wealth of data back to Earth.

    Scientists said they hoped to be able to give at least a preliminary analysis of the rock's composition on Tuesday. Approximately 70 investigators are poring over the pictures and data as they come in.

    Golombek said Barnacle Bill was of particular interest because it is not dusted by the red Martian soil that covers other rocks. The same is true of Yogi, a much bigger rock that resembles a bear, which the rover will look at later.

    'An absolutely wonderful surprise'

    landing

    The scientists say they are amazed by the colors in the pictures, and by the variety of rocks.

    "This has been just an absolutely wonderful surprise," said James Bell, a planetary scientist from Cornell University in New York. "We hadn't anticipated the amount of color information that we're seeing."

    The camera on the lander, which rose on a telescoping stand to is full height Saturday night, is taking pictures from the same vantage point as that of an adult human. Of the hundreds of photographs it has taken, many are in color and some are 3-D.

    The cameras on the rover and the lander are sending a stream of pictures of rocks and sandy soil back to Earth, just as they are supposed to.

    But, just like other tourists, they couldn't resist the impulse to take a picture of each other. And that, the scientists say, is another space first.

    Correspondent John Zarrella, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.  

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