Evidence of an ancient ocean could bolster the case that Mars had a lush, watery past.
According to a report from China's state-run news channel, the country's adorable Zhurong rover collected data from Mars' vast Utopia Planitia plain that included mineral information suggesting water was once present on the surface.
Scientists from the China National Space Administration claim to have found hydrated minerals in Mars' "duricrust" ground layer, which they say is a sign of liquid water activity in the distant past.
As China's #Tianwen1 Mars probe has been in orbit for over 780 days as of September 15, its #Zhurong rover has traveled 1,921 m and obtained 1,480 GB of original scientific data, which includes evidence of liquid water in the form of hydrated minerals at its landing site on Mars. pic.twitter.com/vYSRK6o7JG
— Zhang Meifang张美芳 (@CGMeifangZhang) September 18, 2022
Many rover missions have been sent to Mars to look for evidence of water once flowing on the red planet.
There isn't any water on the Martian surface today, but new evidence suggests that it may have been there for a long time. Over the last year, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found evidence of water flowing on the Red Planet, as opposed to previous estimates that had put the end of water on the planet at three billion years ago.
Billions of years is a long time to go without water, but as we continue to find evidence of it in the ancient history of Mars, we will learn more about what our neighboring planet used to be.
The results of China's Mars mission have been revealed.
NASA releases the first ever audio of meteorites smashing into Mars.
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