Curiosity strikes clay in new samples, further proving Mars’ watery past

NASA’s Curiosity rover has begun investigating one of the most interesting regions so far on its seven-year journey. Scientists call the area the “clay-bearing unit,” and sure enough, that name has turned out to be very apt. After drilling two new samples last month, the rover has finally confirmed high amounts of clay minerals, providing further proof that ancient Mars was once much wetter.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Curiosity strikes clay in new samples, further proving Mars’ watery past

NASA’s Curiosity rover has begun investigating one of the most interesting regions so far on its seven-year journey. Scientists call the area the “clay-bearing unit,” and sure enough, that name has turned out to be very apt. After drilling two new samples last month, the rover has finally confirmed high amounts of clay minerals, providing further proof that ancient Mars was once much wetter.

more…

> While small amounts of clay have been detected in other places, these contained the highest amounts of clay minerals found on Mars so far. Also interesting is how different this dirt is from samples taken just a few kilometers away

Yeah, well given that they’ve wasted many years in travelling just those “few kilometres” …

Which clay, did it say? I don’t think it does. There are a lot of very different clays.