PASADENA, Calif (Reuters) - A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars is using the most powerful cameras ever pointed at the Red Planet to study its climate cycles and whether there is enough water to support a manned mission, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said on Monday.
Images taken during a test of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's instruments showed clay-rich areas that could have supported life and frost, and layered deposits of ice and dirt at the polar ice cap indicate "dynamic climate changes" as recently as 100,000 years ago, scientist Scott Murchie told reporters.