A River Ran Through It: Why Do They Think There Was Once Water on Mars?
Why is everyone so excited about these dusty Mars rocks?
This week’s big news was the announcement of evidence for flowing water on Mars, based on images of what appear to be smooth river rock-type pebbles found by Curiosity. Of course that’s a big statement to make, and for good reason — identifying water, whether present or past, is one step closer to determining whether Mars was ever a suitable place for life to develop. Yet here we are, not even two months into the mission and Curiosity is already sending us solid clues that Mars was once a much wetter place than it is now.
JPL released a video today providing a brief-but-informative overview of what Curiosity has discovered in Gale Crater and why it’s gotten everyone so excited.
Check it out so you’ll have something to talk about over the weekend:
MSL Long Term Planner Sanjeev Gupta reviews Curiosity’s latest discovery
Video: JPLNews. Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Recent Posts
Is the JWST Now an Interplanetary Meteorologist?
The JWST keeps one-upping itself. In the telescope's latest act of outdoing itself, it examined…
Solar Orbiter Takes a Mind-Boggling Video of the Sun
You've seen the Sun, but you've never seen the Sun like this. This single frame…
What Can AI Learn About the Universe?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become ubiquitous, with applications ranging from data analysis, cybersecurity,…
Enceladus’s Fault Lines are Responsible for its Plumes
The Search for Life in our Solar System leads seekers to strange places. From our…
Lunar Explorers Could Run to Create Artificial Gravity for Themselves
Few things in life are certain. But it seems highly probable that people will explore…
This is an Actual Picture of Space Debris
Space debris is a growing problem, so companies are working on ways to mitigate it.…