FOCUS ON WATER ON MARS

China’s rover suggests the liquid may have been on Mars much more recently than scientists thought

Andrew Jones

Evidence is growing that Mars, now cold and dry, had liquid water running on its surface much more recently than previously thought. Scientists have long believed that Mars was wet around 3 billion years ago, during the planet’s Hesperian period, then lost much of its water. But a new study presents evidence of water activity from just 700 million years ago, well into the current Amazonian period, posing a new puzzle to crack about the Red Planet and its history. The new study is based on data from China’s Zhurong rover, part of the Tianwen-1 mission that touched down on the surface of Mars in May 2021. In particular, the scientists used data the rover gathered during its first 92 Martian days, or sols, at its landing site in Utopia…

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All About Space Annual (Digital) - 1 Issue, All About Space Annual (2024)

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