Scientists thought that liquid water flowed on the Red Planet as far back as 2 billion years ago, but new observations suggest otherwise.
Scientists used years of data from the MRO to figure out the presence of salt deposits left behind by the water on the Red Planet.
The scientists used a method called crane counting to determine the younger age of the salt deposits.
Facts about our neighborhood in the solar system.
Based on the new results, the existence of water on Mars has been pushed forward from 3 billion years ago to as little as 2 billion years ago.
The deputy project scientist at NASA said in a statement that part of the value of MRO is that our view of the planet keeps getting more detailed over time.
The scientists used the wide-angle context camera and the high-resolution images provided by the HiRISE experiment to create elevation maps.
Fourteen years ago, Mars Odyssey spotted the salt minerals, but MRO has higher resolution instruments than its older companion.
The study was published in AGU American Geophysical Union Advances. Ellen Leask did much of the work during her time at the California Institute of Technology. Her supervisor is a planetary scientist.
Scientists have conducted numerous studies to assess the extent of flowing water on Mars, both up close through surface missions and using orbital data. New interpretations of the data proved that the underground water at the southern pole was not real.
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