Ancient Mars had long-lasting lakes, rivers: NASA

Mars harboured long-lasting lakes and water streams about 3.8 to 3.3 billion years ago, boosting the odds that life may have once existed on the Red Planet, scientists, including one of Indian-origin, have found.

Using data from the Curiosity rover, NASA’s Mars Science laboratory/Curiosity team has determined that, long ago, water helped deposit sediment into Gale Crater, where the rover landed more than three years ago. The sediment deposited as layers that formed the foundation for Mount Sharp, the mountain found in the middle of the crater today.

“Observations from the rover suggest that a series of long-lived streams and lakes existed at some point between about 3.8 to 3.3 billion years ago, delivering sediment that slowly built up the lower layers of Mount Sharp,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Mars Science laboratory project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California.