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                       NASA: 'Major' Announcement on Mars

   by VOA News

   NASA is set to announce a "major science finding" Monday regarding its
   ongoing exploration of Mars, with many media sources speculating the
   reveal could be that flowing water has been found on the planet.

   The announcement is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) Monday at
   the James Webb Auditorium at [1]NASA Headquarters in Washington.

   Taking part in the conference are: [2]Jim Green, director of planetary
   science at NASA Headquarters; [3]Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the
   Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters; [4]Lujendra Ojha of the
   Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; [5]Mary Beth Wilhelm of
   NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the
   Georgia Institute of Technology; and A[6]lfred McEwen, principal
   investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment
   (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

   Leading speculation is that three of the news conference participants
   -- Ojha, Wilhelm and McEwen -- have done research on the topic of water
   on Mars and are listed as authors on [7]a study titled "Spectral
   Evidence for Hydrated Salts in Seasonal Brine Flows on Mars."

   It is a [8]commonly held view that where there's liquid water, there
   could be life, even if it's in microbial form.

   Doug McCuistion, the former head of Nasa's Mars program, told the
   Boston Herald: "If they are announcing that they have found easily
   accessible, freely flowing liquid water under the surface, which is one
   of the theories we have been hearing for years and years, that has
   massive implications both for the potential for life on that planet and
   sustainability of humans."

   NASA has found evidence of water on Mars in the past. In March, NASA
   said there was once more water on Mars than in Earth's Arctic Ocean.

   NASA researchers wrote in the journal Science that they compared the
   ratio of two different types of water found in the Martian atmosphere
   to the ratio of those waters trapped in a Martian meteorite dating back
   4.5 billion years.

   They say more than 4 billion years ago, Mars was covered with water 137
   meters deep and that nearly all of it has since evaporated into space.
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   [9]http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-major-announcement-on-mars/29823
   91.html

References

   1. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html
   2. http://science.nasa.gov/about-us/organization-and-leadership/division-bios/dr-jim-green/
   3. http://mars.nasa.gov/odyssey/mission/team/profileMeyer/
   4. http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/05/how-an-undergrad-spotted-possible-water-on-mars/
   5. http://marybethwilhelm.com/
   6. https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/faculty/mcewen
   7. http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC2015/EPSC2015-838-1.pdf
   8. http://www.voanews.com/content/article/1924735.html
   9. http://www.voanews.com/content/nasa-major-announcement-on-mars/2982391.html