Monday, November 17, 2008

The Many Faces of Mars: Scientific American (archiving magazine articles 7/2005)

The Many Faces of Mars: Scientific American

What we have discovered is that Mars has experienced a striking diversity of processes and conditions throughout its history. The Mars we are coming to know has embraced environments ranging from bone-dry to soaking wet to blanketed with snow and ice. Simple labels no longer fi t. Rather than “warm” or “cold,” we ask: How warm? How wet? For how long? Where? The emerging answers bear on what compels so many of us to study the Red Planet: its potential for harboring life, either now or in the past.

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