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The soft Martian soil that ensnared the rover Spirit holds evidence that liquid water still trickles below the planet’s surface. But this serendipitous discovery may be Spirit’s last.
Spirit’s wheels broke through the crust of a sand pit called “Troy” in April 2009, after five years spent mostly exploring a region called Home Plate. NASA officially gave up on trying to extract the rover in January.
But the soil exposed by Spirit’s spinning wheels carries clues that Mars may still be wet. The newly exposed surface layers include minerals thought to be hematite, silica and gy
Since November and December 2006, the accumulated evidence shows that liquid water exists in soil even if only as a thin film. Viking, itself, gave strong evidence of the presence of liquid water. Snow or frost is seen in Viking images of the landing site (e.g., Viking Lander Image 21I093). Pathfinder has shown that the surface atmosphere of Mars exceeds 20 degrees C during part of the day, providing transient conditions for liquid water.