Scientist Says No Water Needed to Make Mars Red

Posted by tourdemars to Life on Mars at September 3, 2003 12:00 PM

Data from an unmanned Mars probe suggests the red planet's rusty color might have come not from water as widely believed but from tiny meteors raining on its surface, a science magazine said on Wednesday. Scientists exploring the possibility of some form of life existing on Earth's planetary neighbor are eager to establish whether water exists or has existed on Mars and, if so, in what quantities. The New Scientist magazine quoted Albert Yen of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as saying information from the 1996-97 Pathfinder mission suggested the hue came from meteors and dust containing iron and magnesium.