A NASA team that analyzed rocks brought from Mars Curiosity Rover's expedition states that there is strong evidence that there were once flowing water streams or rivers on Mars.
It has been quite some time since scientists discovered the existence of water on Mars. Now, a team of scientists who analyzed rocks from NASA's Mars Curiosity Rover says that there is strong evidence to suggest that there were once flowing water streams or rivers on the Red Planet.
The expedition began last August and ever since, the Curiosity Rover has been trying to find evidence that would suggest the Martian surface was capable of supporting life. So far, hydrated minerals or water-bearing minerals, organic compounds or other chemical ingredients related to life have been discovered.
After the rover moved from its landing site to its current location in "Yellowknife Bay," scientists observed images of large rock formations composed of many rounded pebbles cemented into beds several centimeters thick through the rover's MastCam.
"These (rock formations) point to a past on Mars that was warmer, and wet enough to allow water to flow for many kilometers across the surface of Mars," Linda Kah, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who helped work the cameras, said in a news release. According to scientists, the stones found within the rock formation might have "rounded" by erosion while being carried by flowing water, such as a river or stream. These streams could have been one or more and were more or less shallow and fast moving.
"These rocks provide a record of past conditions at the site that contrasts with the modern Martian environment, whose atmospheric conditions make liquid water unstable," said Kah. "Finding ancient river deposits indicate sustained liquid water flows across the landscape, and raises prospects of once habitable conditions."
The findings are published in the current week's edition of Science.
