A study of the data received from NASA's MRO (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) gives evidence that water in liquid form flowed on the Red Planet at least 2 billion years ago. It is much longer than scientists have previously expected.
The discovery was made possible due to the images taken by CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars). CRISM sent dozens of images of salt deposits that the scientists used to interpret a younger age of the deposit using "crater counting". Crater counting is a method of estimating the age of the surface of the planet. It is based on the assumption that when a surface is new, it has no crater impacts.
Scientists created digital elevation maps and found out that many of the salts were in depression that once were shallow ponds. Apart from that, they also found dried-out channels that once were streams going into these ponds. The minerals were spotted first time 14 years ago by Mars Odyssey. But MRO has better equipment at its disposal.
It has now raised new questions about the survival of microbial life on Mars and how long did it last. Mars has been the most talked-about planet where humans could make a base in the future. So, it is necessary that we know more about the Red Planet before we go there. As of now, humans have only visited Moon outside of the planet Earth. And, we haven't done that again in more than fifty years. So, it may take some time until we reach Mars in person.
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