"Mars is covered by salt crystals that could have been left by ancient, evaporated lakes - and may hold signs that life once existed on the Red Planet.

A Nasa probe found signs of chloride mineral dustings in the southern hemisphere and believe they may have formed billions of years ago when water evaporated from soil or salty lakes.

This discovery, brought to light by a camera on orbital spacecraft Mars Odyssey - mapping the planet since 2002 - could be significant in the on-going search for life.

As a preservative, salt is a particularly good place to search for traces of organic traces.

Photographs - some using infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye - show "fingerprints" of a tell-tale chloride mineral deposit in around 200 places in the ancient, heavily-cratered terrain of Mars's southern highlands.

Team member Professor Philip Christensen, of the School of Earth and Planetary Exploration at Arizona State University, said the most likely candidate for this mineral would be sodium chloride - "good old table salt".

He said many of the deposits lay in basins with channels leading into them - the kind of feature that is consistent with water flowing in over a long time.

The US research team believes the deposits formed about four billion years ago, when Mars was probably much warmer and wetter.

Dr Christensen said: "Salt is also an excellent means of preserving organic material, so if there was life present in the distant past, the signature might still be there."

The scientists say the areas with chloride minerals should be given a high priority for future rover missions to Mars.

Until now, journeys have largely concentrated on a handful of places that show evidence of clay or sulphate minerals.

Harvard University professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Andrew Knoll, who was not part of the study, said the findings suggest water once flowed on the Martian surface but only as lakes, not oceans.

But he said despite this advance in information about the planet, the discovery carries "a double-edge sword for astrobiology".

"Water is the first sign that an environment might have been habitable, but waters that precipitate table salt on Mars would have been much saltier than any waters known to support microbial populations on Earth."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1965

Just another small step the world seems to be away to realizing the truth.

What are your thoughts on Mars? Aliens still inhabit it? Did before but the planet died? Could we possibly be martians?

It is possible that there could be complex life there somewhere and we just haven't found it yet.

I have to admit we are barely scratching the surface of Mars but as each missions comes we are learning ore and more and again have to applaud those 2 little rovers for acheiving far more than was ever expected i just wish they'd drop a couple off in the Cydonia region

oskar...I agree with you....I look forward to future discoveries.....I'm sure the rovers will find evidence of life.....even if it is past life.

If they do find evidence C.B. do you think NASA would inform us

oskar.....they have released information on what appears to be single-celled life from mars in a small meteorite located in Antarctica.

Yes...I think if further evidence is located they will inform us.

I think it will depend on the evidence.

SD....I agree...but then I do not believe they have found or ever will find evidence of ancient civilizations or ET bases there.....much less indigenous macro-life forms.

So imo....I think they will most likely inform us of their findings.

Even if the instruments on board the rovers find evidence of life, or at least past life, then most people would be disappointed, and furthermore will claim that NASA was keeping secrets. The telemetry from the rovers is simply downright boring to the layman. Any signs of life will be due to the skilled interpretations of the scientists, and not from a 'page one' tabloid photo of a smiling gremlin.

This post has been edited by senhuan: Mar 25 2008, 04:29 PM

senhaun.....well said...I think thats the likely course of action

I have posted my information on Mars in ancient civilizations due to Poseidon. The pictures attached are of Mars anomalies. The picture on the left I have painted in the mermaid. Poseidon is looking down towards the mermaid who is his girlfriend or wife Amphitrite.

The next picture I painted in the angry man who seems to be angry with Poseidon. He is pointing and seems to be blaming Poseidon for a problem with the water which has dried up. There is a woman who I have painted in who is drawing water except there is no more water. There is also a dead fish.

The scale might not be right for the drawings which have been etched or drawn into the surface of Mars. The woman drawing the water is about the same size as the fish. She is also the size of the mermaid's head. Poseidon is larger than the mermaid.

The mermaid looks happily in love with Poseidon and seems to not have interest in the water problem.

So the attached pictures would show that there was life on Mars. The person who is drawing water might not be human or they could be human or similiar to humans. From the anomaly it would show there were fish on Mars which would mean that there were probably oceans, lakes and rivers.

This post has been edited by tye: Mar 31 2008, 02:27 PM

I will not speculate yet, except for the base part.
I would find it surprising if there weren't any alien bases there, in light of the visitations here among other things. I feel confident they are there, finding them will be beyond the scope of present day or near future abilities.

SD....can I assume they are underground bases then?

They already found a meteorite from mars that had microbes at one of earths poles, i think it was in the antarctic.

source:
http://www.marsnews.com/focus/life/

Yeah,so that's one of the main reason why they are stuying Mars

M.....it was quite a lucky find.....finding such a meteorite in the middle of Antarctica is quite a troke of luck.

Yes.
Sorry for not clairifying that.

SD....thanks...I agree it is a possibility....I just don't believe in it

Ya finding a meteorite is easy, but one from mars seems almost incredible.

(=-M-=)