<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; "></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">"</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has provided images allowing scientists for the first time to create a 3-D reconstruction of ancient water channels below the Martian surface.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The spacecraft took numerous images during the past few years that showed channels attributed to catastrophic flooding in the last 500 million years. During this period, Mars had been otherwise considered cold and dry. These channels are essential to understanding the extent to which recent hydrologic activity prevailed during such arid conditions. They also help scientists determine whether the floods could have induced episodes of climate change.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The estimated size of the flooding appears to be comparable to the ancient mega-flood that created the Channeled Scablands in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, in eastern Washington.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(47, 47, 47); "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">The findings are reported in the March 7 issue of Science Express by a team of scientists from NASA, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; color: #000000">"</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b>MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES</b></span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">All of the HiRISE images are archived here: <a href="http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px">More information about the MRO mission is available online at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mro"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(4, 51, 255); ">http://www.nasa.gov/mro</span></a>.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; min-height: 14px; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; "></span></div></body></html>