NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Outwardly harsh and merciless Mars, as it turns out, could have been much more hospitable in the distant past. Using images taken by NASA‘s Curiosity rover and cutting-edge computer modeling, a team of American scientists has made a discovery: the surface of the Red Planet may have been “strewn” with rivers in much larger quantities than previously thought.
US researchers have found that ancient riverbeds may be common across much of Martian craters, suggesting more favorable climate conditions in the past. Today, Mars is a cold and inhospitable planet, with an average temperature of minus 63 degrees Celsius. However, new research hints that its climate was warm and humid.
To support their findings, the scientists analyzed alluvial deposits of water flows on the Martian surface. This relief was created by the action of water and is usually represented by canyons and sand slides. It was previously thought that such deposits could only be associated with fluvial formations, but the Curiosity rover found evidence of other types of relief in Gale Crater.
“The rock formations observed by the rover are most likely the remains of ancient riverbeds,” explained study lead author Benjamin Cardenas.
To confirm their hypotheses, the scientists developed the first digital model to simulate water erosion on Mars, which included computer models trained on satellite imagery and data from Mars rovers, as well as information about the layers of sediment on Earth deposited beneath the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico. This data was provided by oil companies engaged in research on the ocean floor.
The simulation model demonstrated that similar rocky landforms, rather than fluvial ones, can be formed by water, making such structures potential indicators of ancient water deposits in Martian craters.
These discoveries lead to important conclusions: if ancient rivers were indeed common on Mars, then this increases the likelihood of life on the planet in the past. The possibility of water existing in such quantities opens up new possibilities for future missions to search for traces of life on the Red Planet.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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