Water may have been on Mars much more recently than scientists thought, China's rover suggests

Evidence is growing that Mars had liquid water running on its surface more recently than previously thought.

During the Hesperian period, when Mars was wet, much of its water was lost. A new study presents evidence of water activity from 700 million years ago to the present day, posing a new puzzle to solve about the Red Planet's history.

The new study is based on the data from the China's Zhurong rover, which was part of the Tianwen-1 mission and touched down on the surface of Mars in May 2021. The scientists used the data from the first 92 Martian days of the rover to make decisions. A researcher at the National Space Science Center (NSSC) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed data from three different instruments on Zhurong.

China's Mars rover is hunkering down for its first Red Planet winter.

The team studied minerals at the site 700 million years ago and found evidence of a large amount of liquid water at the current site.

Eva Scheller, a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology who wasn't involved in the new research, says that there are very few recorded evidences of young liquid water. They were usually in the form of salt minerals.

The water molecule locked away in the rock is very interesting and different from other young liquid water environments that have been observed.

NASA has sent its Mars rovers to ancient landing sites, dating back to the Noachian age. There is a powerful suite of instruments that are exploring a new, geologically young site on Mars.

One of the major things we will have to find out is how extensive the young water-bearing minerals are.

During its more than 350 Martian days, the rover has covered 1.24 miles (2 kilometers), and has analyzed a range of features on its travels, meaning more new insights are likely still to come from the rover.

The results are described in a paper.

Follow us on social media.