News Space

Mars’ history is a fluid situation

New analysis challenges watery, warm picture of planet's surface

By Nadia Drake

- More than 2 years ago

Four billion years ago, the Martian surface may have been cold and dry — not warm, watery and more Earthlike than it is today, as many scientists have suggested.

WHERE’S WATER? In an escarpment (left images) and crater (right images) on Mars, clays rich in iron and magnesium (shown in blue in bottom false-color images) have chemical compositions suggesting that most of the water on early Mars lay underground.