Mars had a wet, windy and wild past

Based on a Cornell University news release

After thoroughly investigating Victoria Crater on Mars for two years, the instruments aboard the Rover Opportunity reveal more evidence of our neighboring red planet's windy, wet and wild past. The data returned by the mission is valuable in determining whether or not Mars once supported an environment suitable for life. The overview of the findings – compiled in one source – is published in the May 22 issue of the journal Science.

Opportunity's two-year exploration of Victoria Crater – a half-mile wide and 250 feet deep – yielded a treasury of information about the planet's geologic history and supported previous findings indicating that water once flowed on the planet's surface, according to Steve Squyres, Cornell professor of astronomy and the principal investigator for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. The rover is now heading south toward Endeavor crater, 8.5 miles away.

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