No Water ?? - What About All The Hematite ??

I guess I was hoping for a 'Eureka' moment.....headlines blazing with
confirmation of water once having existed at the landing sites...nothing has
been confirmed for sure, but it doesn't seem like any of the science being
done by Spirit or Opportunity is pointing to there being water at any time
at these sites. The reports so far seem to be leaning to volcanic or
meteoric activity, rather than water creating the rocks analyzed so far.
What happened to all that hematite that was supposedly a marker for
extensive amounts of water ??

Jeff Lerner

"Jeff Lerner" wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
I guess I was hoping for a 'Eureka' moment.....headlines blazing with
confirmation of water once having existed at the landing sites...nothing
has
been confirmed for sure

The principal investigators get first dibs on the data and its
interpretation. In about a year they will present papers on the
observations and include a few theories about the geologic origins and
history of Mars. I guess I had a Eureka moment or two....well today
Spaceflightnow.com published another photo from the new ESA Mars Express
camera that show what appears to be water erosion. And then there is a lot
of water on Mars that is locked inside crystalline rocks, assuming Mars has
crystalline rocks. It is so cold that I would be surprised if there aren't
some large frozen aquifers there. On a different topic, it occurred to me
the other day that I have not seen much talk regarding seismic research. It
seems like it would be worthwhile to install some microphones in the rock
and either set off some explosive charges or wait for a meteor strike to
generate seismic waves to map the interior. Figuring out the internal
structure of Mars would have to be easier than it is on Earth since the iron
core of Mars has solidified and so there is no magma migration going on.
(Since the core is solid, there is no dynamo effect and no magnetic field,
hence no shielding from solar wind, hence a tenuous atmosphere, hence no
liquid water.)