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Mars has a number of craters on its surface, and a new analysis suggests that much of them could once have been habitable rivers. The findings suggest that Mars once had the conditions necessary for life.
The study, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, is based on an analysis of data from the Curiosity rover. Part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, Curiosity, launched in November 2011, is the largest rover ever sent to Mars.
Using numerical models, researchers simulated erosion that has taken place at Mars’s Gale Crater over thousands of years. The study used a computer model on satellite data and Curiosity images and compared these with 3D scans of layers of rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico seafloor, deposited over millions of years.
The researchers used 25-year-old scans of these layers. These scans were collected by oil companies over the years.
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The interpretation that the Martian craters may have once been riverbeds is new. Until now, Martian crater formations have never been associated with eroded river deposits, Pennsylvania State University said in a press statement. Geoscientist Benjamin Cardenas of Penn State is the lead author of the new paper.
“We’re finding evidence that Mars was likely a planet of rivers. We see signs of this all over the planet,” Penn State quoted Cardenas as saying. “This analysis is not snapshot, but a record of change. What we see on Mars today is the remnants of an active geologic history, not some landscape frozen in time.”
The study also found indications that there could be undiscovered river deposits elsewhere on Mars. “Our research indicates that Mars could have had far more rivers than previously believed, which certainly paints a more optimistic view of ancient life on Mars. It offers a vision of Mars where most of the planet once had the right conditions for life,” Cardenas was quoted as saying.
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