For a very solid part of 2016, Mars remained the main object of interest for humankind associated with comic research. And of course, most of our interest was somehow connected with our desire to learn more about the possible life on the Red Planet. Has Mars ever been the home of life? That is why the NASA aerospace agency sent the Curiosity rover there. To satisfy our curiosity. And just recently, the rover discovered something really worthwhile that could be added to our piggy bank in favor of possible life on the Red Planet.
Scientists are more convinced than ever: Mars did indeed once have water. Several billion years ago, there were indeed whole lakes of water on this planet, which dried up over time, but left behind evidence to support this fact. And it is precisely this evidence that was recently discovered by the Curiosity rover. Moreover, the rover found deposits of minerals, which clearly indicate that the "wet period of Mars" persisted much longer than we previously thought.
Over the past few weeks, Curiosity, while in the Old Soaker region of Mars, has been analyzing soil that has been "cut" up and down by small grooves. The analysis showed that this soil is a real mud in the form of a finely dispersed, colloidal suspension, similar to the one on Earth. The NASA aerospace agency believes that the cracks in this soil formed about 3 billion years ago, after which they were buried under layers of sedimentary rocks, which later also began to delaminate.
“Cracks in the dried suspension are very common here. You can see this on Earth, for example, along dry roads, where the surface is dry and cracked mud,”explains Nathan Stein, one of the Curiosity management team members.
Scientists are convinced that such splitting in the "Old Soaker" area, which is part of the base of Mount Sharpe, was due to wind erosion. In addition, rock layers were found in this area, which could have formed only with a sufficiently intense water flow.
So Mars actually could have water. Does this mean that there once was life on the Red Planet? Wherever we find water on Earth, we always find life there, but Curiosity will have to work more so that we can confidently state that a similar feature is inherent in Mars.
NIKOLAY KHIZHNYAK
