Photos from NASA’s Curiosity rover suggest Mars had more water for longer than previously thought

The Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars' Gale Crater for more than a decade, analysing the minerals on its surface.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 We have this sandstone, which represents migrating dunes

00:26 deposited onto the side of it.

00:28 So they must be the youngest thing,

00:30 or one of the youngest things in the crater.

00:33 Within that sandstone, we find these structures

00:36 which cross-cut them, which are evidence of water.

00:39 So they must be one of the youngest things

00:41 to happen in the crater, which therefore means

00:44 we have these structures which were formed by water,

00:48 are one of the latest things in the crater.

00:50 Therefore, there must have been water more recently

00:56 within the crater than we previously thought.

00:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:02 You understand that there was water

01:10 in Mars' early history.

01:11 But then as you go from the start of the Hesperian,

01:16 so 3.7 billion years ago, towards 3 billion years ago,

01:20 Mars dried out.

01:21 And that's round about the same time

01:23 that life evolved on Earth.

01:26 And we think that's round about the same time

01:29 that life could have existed on Mars as well.

01:33 And what we found by looking at these rocks

01:35 is that there was abundant water on the surface of Mars

01:38 much later than we expected.

01:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:50 Similar conditions existed on Mars at the same time

01:54 as that on Earth.

01:56 And it would be reasonable to believe that life would

01:59 potentially evolve on Mars.

02:01 But then it would need more time to evolve into a state

02:06 where it could leave a impression in the rock record.

02:10 And by us identifying this water later in Gale Crater's

02:15 infilling history, it pushes back that window

02:19 where the opportunity that life could evolve and be

02:23 preserved in the rock record.

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02:38 (upbeat music)

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