The mystery of how Mars could have once had water flowing on its surface is now deepening, as a new study reveals that the Red Planet's early atmosphere likely possessed up to hundreds of times less carbon dioxide than needed to keep it warm enough for liquid water to last.
Although Mars is now cold and dry, there are decades of evidence suggesting that the Red Planet's surface was once covered with rivers, streams, ponds, lakes and perhaps seas and oceans. Dark, narrow lines seen on Mars even hint that water could run down some of its slopes every spring. There is life virtually wherever there is water on Earth, so these findings raise the possibility that Mars was once a home to life, and might host it still.
"The watery environments that once occupied the floor of Gale Crater look like they were pretty hospitable to life—not too hot, not too cold, not too acid, not too alkaline, and the water probably was not too salty," said study lead author Thomas Bristow, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. [Photos: Ancient Mars Lake Could Have Supported Life]
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