NASA’s Curiosity Rover Unearths Mars’ Ancient Water Secrets

Curiosity’s exploration of the Gediz Vallis channel on Mars offers new insights into the planet’s past, revealing a potential history of water flows and climatic changes that challenge previous beliefs about Mars’ aridity. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS’s Curiosity rover has begun exploring a new region of Mars, one that could reveal more about when liquid water disappeared once and for all from the Red Planet’s surface.

After arriving at Gediz Vallis channel, NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover captured this 360-degree panorama using one of its black-and-white navigation cameras on February 3. The formation has scientists intrigued because of what it might tell them about the history of water on the Red Planet. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Once the sedimentary layers of lower Mount Sharp had been deposited by wind and water, erosion whittled them down to expose the layers visible today. Only after these lengthy processes – as well as intensely dry periods during which the surface of Mount Sharp was a sandy desert – could the Gediz Vallis channel have been carved.

The steep path NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took to reach Gediz Vallis channel is indicated in yellow in this visualization made with orbital data. At lower right is the point where the rover veered off to get an up-close look at a ridge formed long ago by debris flows from higher up on Mount Sharp. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UC Berkeley

Source: Tech Daily Report (techdailyreport.net)

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