NASA’s Curiosity Rover has uncovered evidence of ancient liquid water on Mars. The rover discovered undulations resembling ripples, found in Gale Crater, thought to be dried-up lakes. These ripples, formed 3.7 billion years ago, suggest that water once flowed open to the atmosphere before being frozen.
Curiosity, launched in 2011, has been studying Mars’ climate and geology for over a decade. Its instruments detected these ripples near sulfate-rich rocks, providing new insights into Martian history. The findings indicate that Mars likely supported liquid water at one point, contradicting earlier assessments of its permanently frozen surface.
This discovery enhances our understanding of Mars’ early conditions and supports the idea of past liquid water. Such evidence is crucial for future paleoclimate studies on Mars, which aim to map its changing environments. While previous missions like Opportunity provided ripples data, this new finding offers a clearer picture of Martian geology in action.
The findings are significant for astrobiology research, as they suggest that conditions once favorable for life may have existed on Mars. Further investigation is needed to determine how common such ripples might be across the planet’s surface.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/curiosity-finds-evidence-of-open-water-on-ancient-mars