Mars breakthrough: Amazing picture that shows Red Planet could have once teemed with life
Mars breakthrough: Amazing picture that shows Red Planet could have once teemed with life SCIENTISTS are becoming more convinced that Mars was once an earth-like planet with continents divided by great oceans of water. Data and images sent back by the NASA Mars Curiosity Rover – an all terrain space probe exploring the barren world – have prompted the belief they have discovered a continental crust, much like ours. Boffins who have studied latest pictures and information beamed back by the rover have prompted new research published in Nature Geoscience entitled “In situ evidence for continental crust on early Mars”. It reveals a never-before-seen look at a cross-section of the Red Planet and the presence of interesting materials inside. Using specialist drills, the rover gathered information on 22 rocks in the huge Gale Crater – which with its walls of one to two miles down was a ready-made natural geological cut-away. Then with a ChemCam laser, which doubles as a laser and camera, Curiosity could analyse their composition, which has been found to closely resemble Earth’s continental crust.
