Best Red Eye

NASA's Mars Orbiter is bringing our solar system neighbor into sharp focus.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the latest unmanned spacecraft, has been taking extraordinary photos using the largest telescopic camera ever sent to the red planet. From its flight path 190 miles above the surface, the orbiter can observe planetary features as small as an office desk. It's also documenting the history and distribution of Martian water. Already spotted: evidence of ancient fluids flowing through cracks in underground rock, which may have once produced conditions hospitable to microbial life.

From Reader's Digest - May 2007

 

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