[Sneha Sharma]

The sands of Mars, which hold the biggest dunes in the solar system, could contain up to 50% snow and ice, a US scientist told the British Association ‘festival of science’ meeting in Dublin yesterday. The discovery could be of enormous significance. President George Bush has named Mars as the destination for a manned mission in the next 30 years. NASA and the European Space Agency both plan orbiter missions and robot landings in the next decade. Researchers are also anxious to settle the dispute over whether Mars was ever home to life, and whether microbial life could still endure beneath the soil. Without water, there can be no life.

Which of the following, if true, most strongly supports the view expressed in the passage?.

a. Sand dunes occur pretty much everywhere on planets.

b. Years ago there were meteor showers at these locations on Mars; that indicates potential of finding evidence of life in these sand dunes.

c. Landmarks include huge alluvial fans in the sand, river-like drainage patterns, laminated sediments of the kind found on Earth in the dry valleys of Antarctica.

d. Mars periodically changes its tilt dramatically, increasing the severity and violence of its winters.

e. None of the above.

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