NASA rover finds 'clearest evidence yet' of an ancient lake on Mars

In the foothills of a Martian mountain, NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered beautiful new proof of an historical lake within the type of rocks etched with the ripples of waves — and the telltale indicators appeared in an unlikely place.

The rover is traversing an space of Mars referred to as the “sulfate-bearing unit” that researchers beforehand thought would solely present proof of mere trickles of water, as scientists believed the rocks there shaped because the floor of the pink planet was drying out.

Instead, the rover discovered a few of the clearest proof but of historical waters.

'Clearest evidence yet' of an ancient lake on Mars found by NASA curiosity rover — The “clearest evidence yet” of an historical lake on Mars has been discovered by the NASA Curiosity rover. (CNN)

“This is the best evidence of water and waves that we’ve seen in the entire mission,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s mission scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, mentioned in a assertion.

“We climbed through thousands of feet of lake deposits and never saw evidence like this — and now we found it in a place we expected to be dry.”

Site of historical lake discovered on Mars by NASA rover

The sulfate-bearing unit is a area beforehand recognized by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as containing salty mineral deposits simply beneath an 18,000-foot (5500 metres) mountain referred to as Mount Sharp.

Scientists take into account the sulfate-bearing unit to be a location rife with clues about how and why Mars morphed from a watery planet into the frozen place it’s right now, and researchers have lengthy sought to discover the realm in additional depth.

Though the area comprises rocks that had been thought to have shaped “when water was drying to a trickle,” in accordance with NASA, the brand new photos from Curiosity present proof of a shallow lake.

“Billions of years ago, waves on the surface of a shallow lake stirred up sediment at the lake bottom, over time creating rippled textures left in rock,” in accordance with a NASA news launch.

The wave-marked rocks had been discovered about one-half mile (800 meters) into Curiosity’s ascent of Mount Sharp. As the rover climbed increased, it travelled over rocks that will have shaped extra not too long ago.

That’s why researchers did not count on to see such clear markers of a big physique of water.

Specifically, the rocks had been found in what’s referred to as the Marker Band Valley, a zigzag formation of rocks that stands out towards the panorama, due to its darker colouring.

Images from the Curiosity rover are shedding new light about the conditions on Mars. — Images from the Curiosity rover are shedding new mild concerning the circumstances on Mars. (CNN)

The rover started exploring the Marker Band characteristic — which was discovered to have skinny, arduous rocks protecting the floor in a scalelike sample — in 2022.

Curiosity has tried to extract samples from a few of the rocks, however they proved too arduous for the rover’s drill, in accordance with NASA.

But scientists are hoping the automobile will discover some softer spots extra conducive to pattern assortment as its trek continues.

The Curiosity rover has been exploring the Martian floor for a few decade, and it has been climbing the bottom of Mount Sharp since 2014.

Scientists are significantly within the mountain as a result of its suspected previous — wherein the landmark was surrounded by streams and lakes — may have been host to microbial life types.

That is, if any ever existed on Mars.

Source: www.9news.com.au