Chinese rover makes surprise discovery about liquid water on Mars
HARD SCIENCE — MAY 22, 2022
Data from the Zhurong rover suggests the Red Planet was wet more recently than we thought.
Scientists believed there was liquid water on Mars up until about 3 billion years ago. Now, the Chinese rover has found evidence of liquid water from 700 million years ago. Understanding the history of liquid water on Mars can help us predict how much water remains, a crucial factor for any potential colony on the Red Planet.
Kristin Houser
A Chinese rover has found evidence that there was liquid water on Mars far more recently than we thought — a discovery that could affect plans to one day colonize the Red Planet.
Liquid water on Mars: Based on past research, scientists believed there was liquid water on Mars up until about 3 billion years ago — the point at which the planet’s dry “Amazonian” epoch began and the geological era before it (the “Hesperian” epoch) ended.
Understanding the history of liquid water on Mars can help us predict how much water remains on the Red Planet, in the form of ice or hydrated minerals. We might then be able to use that existing water on Mars to support crewed missions.
“One of the most important resources for human explorers is water,” lead study author Yang Liu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) told CNN. “Hydrated minerals, which contain structural water, and ground ice can be used as the important water resource on Mars.”
More:
https://bigthink.com/hard-science/chinese-rover-water-mars/