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What do the colours mean?

18 February 2004

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Water may once have flowed freely on Mars and, like the Earth, the planet receives sunlight and has its own internal energy source. So the odds on primitive life thriving for at least some time during the planet’s history are reasonably good.

Credits: NASA

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OMEGA observed the southern polar cap of Mars on 18 January 2004, as seen on all three bands. The right one represents the visible image, the middle one the CO2 (carbon dioxide) ice and the left one the H2O (water) ice.

Credits: ESA - OMEGA

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