NASA captures evidence of Earth-like planet 2 billion years ago

Images captured by NASA's Mars Exploration Orbiter show clear traces of liquid water on the planet's surface at a time when it was previously thought to have dried up.

The new discovery overturns the long-held belief that Mars was only briefly a "blue planet", then turned arid 3 billion years ago. Analysis of data from a spectrometer aboard NASA's Mars Exploration Orbiter (MRO) shows that liquid water still existed on the surface of Mars about 2 billion years ago.

Traces of salt in an impact crater 1.5 km wide show that there was once a pond here

Many previous studies have shown that Mars - a planet in the "habitable zone" of the Solar System - was actually habitable and had a system of rivers, lakes and oceans similar to Earth. But some mysterious process made it so dehydrated and arid it is today, making life extinct.

Speaking to Sci-News, Professor Bethany Ehlmann from the California Institute of Technology and Dr Ellen Leask from the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory said: left behind after the cold water flowing over the area was evaporated".

Although the topography of some parts of Mars has previously suggested the presence of flows, this is the first time that scientists have found direct mineral evidence, confirming the presence of liquid water. .

The authors discovered a lot of salt in many areas on the gently sloping volcanic plains, but where they believe are ancient shallow ponds.

Liquid water is one of the indispensable conditions for life to exist on that planet, so this discovery once again shows that NASA is on the right track when it comes to choosing Mars as its top target. the hunt for alien life.