Did Mars have a challenging past? Scientists are convinced that it is, but of course, with the current landscape of dryness and dust, this answer is a continuous subject of debate. Now, a new study by NASA scientists has cleared up this dilemma with the discovery of water footprints on our neighboring red planet. These tracks are “surprisingly recent”, dating back to the last million years.
Signs of watermarks have been found in a young Martian crater known as Istok. This crater, which is at most one million years old, has very well-defined ravines (drawn after their origin) that have been studied by researchers using data from the HiRISE camera of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft (MRO ) from NASA, launched on August 12, 2005 with the purpose of expanding our knowledge of Mars.
HiRISE data has been used to trace the gullies of the crater in question in three dimensions and in great detail. Comparing these ravines with similar ones on Earth, scientists have concluded that it is most likely that the size of these ravines had to have the effect of between 20 and 60% water, creating a kind of “slides” in surface areas that occur every 10-100 years , according to Tjalling de Haas, the study leader.
“The existence of liquid water is now extremely rare on Mars, but it was most abundant during periods of high obliquity during the last million years . This is demonstrated by the widespread presence of mid-latitude gullies: small fan-shaped catchment systems, ”explains Haas.
Will we find more humid environments like this on Mars or is it an isolated case as if it were an oasis? Is it a reliable clue to discovering microbial life on Mars? “On Earth, if you see liquid water, you can predict with almost 100% certainty that evidence of life will be found, but we don’t know if Mars has the same relationship, ” the authors conclude.
The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications .
