Scientists are hoping to send humans to Mars in the near future, and it seems like a totally feasible scenario. Our neighboring planet deserves as much exploration as possible, being a worthy candidate for hosting life. We may not find or develop little green men on the Red Planet, but surely there’s a suitable environment on the cosmic object for at least microbial life to develop itself.
But as every day passes, scientists conclude that there’s more to learn about Mars than they ever suspected.
Large ice sheets occurring in the south of ancient Mars
Scientists initially believed that the Red Planet was warm and full of water during its early stages billions of years ago. But a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience reveals that ancient Mars was once covered in ice. The scientists had been analyzing over 10,000 different valleys belonging to 66 different valley networks in order to come up with this idea.
Mark Jellinek, co-author of the study and also a geoscientist from the University of British Columbia, declared:
These results are the first evidence for extensive subglacial erosion driven by channelized meltwater drainage beneath an ancient ice sheet on Mars,
The new study shows that some of the valleys and channels found on Mars are resembling those found in Earth’s polar regions. Climate modeling also predicts that Mars was once a frozen world. Jelinek also added:
Using the geomorphology of Mars’ surface to rigorously reconstruct the character and evolution of the planet in a statistically meaningful way is, frankly, revolutionary,
Astronomers have plenty of reasonable hope that cosmic missions like the NASA’s Perseverance rover or China’s Tianwen-1 will soon uncover mysteries of ancient life forms that may have once lived on Mars. Besides Mars, we could count using the fingers from just one hand the other known cosmic objects from our solar system that could support life: the moons Titan, Enceladus, and Europa.
