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- NASA scientists have
discovered ancient sea or lake beds
on the surface of Mars that could
once have harboured life.
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- The discovery is among the most significant concerning
Mars so far, because such places are the most likely locations for fossils
or other signs of past life.
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- Nasa will announce the discovery in this week's edition
of Science with the suggestion that the next generation of Mars landings
should be sent to such areas.
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- This weekend a British group building a craft bound for
Mars said it was already considering rerouting its vehicle, Beagle II,
to land in the middle of one of the newly discovered sea beds.
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- Professor Colin
Pillinger, an astronomer at the Open
University who heads the Beagle II
project, will also announce that he
has raised the full £30m
needed for the British mission.
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- He has just been offered £9m by the European Space
Agency, with the rest coming from commercial sponsors. "We will
launch
in June 2003 and hope to land on Mars on Boxing Day," he
said.
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- The
Nasa discovery is based on images taken by Mars Global
Surveyor, which
has been orbiting the red planet for more than a year.
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- It is said to have sent back
detailed pictures of rocks
that could only have been created by
sedimentation, in which particles
sink to a sea bed and are compressed
into rock.
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