Word: meridiani
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That's true, at least, for Meridiani Planum, the plain near the Martian equator, where Opportunity set down. By pure good fortune, the rover landed inside a small crater gouged by an ancient meteorite. This natural excavation exposed ancient layers of crust laid down by a shallow lake that had periodically dried up and refilled. Spirit landed half a world away in giant Gusev Crater, on what looked like a lake bed but turned out to be lava. Frustrated, mission scientists ordered the rover to move on. "We were already at 80 days, but we decided to put the pedal...
...experiments that put that theory to rest--and nailed down the presence of water for good--were largely conducted on one 10-in.-high, 65-ft.-wide rock outcropping in the Meridiani Planum that mission scientists dubbed El Capitan. The surface of the formation is made up of fine layers--called parallel laminations--that are often laid down by minerals settling out of water. The rock is also randomly pitted with cavities called vugs that are created when salt crystals form in briny water and then fall out or dissolve away...
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