Nasa’s Curiosity rover has found evidence of a lake on Mars, raising the possibility that the Red Planet could have hosted life. The rover discovered rippled rock textures, which suggest that waves and water had once existed in an area of Mars that was expected to be dry. This is the clearest evidence yet of water and waves that Curiosity has discovered.
The rover is currently ascending the foothills of Mount Sharp, which was once filled with lakes and streams. In the area known as the ‘Marker Band’, Curiosity discovered the rock textures, which were preserved in a layer of dark rock. This layer was so hard that the rover has been unable to drill a sample from it.
Scientists have also found a valley named Gediz Vallis which is thought to have been eroded by a small river, as well as wet landslides which sent car-size boulders and debris to the bottom of the valley. Rocks collected by the rover also contained organic carbon, which could have come from any bugs that may have roamed Mars in the past.
Further evidence of the planet’s watery past includes a 3.5 billion-year-old shoreline which covered thousands of square kilometres and layering in rocks which suggest that Mars had periodic seasons. The discovery has captivated scientists, with Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, commenting that ‘Mars’ ancient climate had a wonderful complexity to it, much like Earth’s.’
These findings give rise to the possibility that life could have existed on Mars in its ancient past, and the search continues for further evidence.
