Space & Astronomy

Mars was once covered in vast oceans

By T.K. Randall
March 6, 2015

Image Credit: NASA / JPL Despite being a cold and barren world today, Mars once supported a much warmer and wetter climate with rivers and oceans that would have provided an ideal environment for life to develop.

Now scientists have revealed that the Red Planet is likely to have been home to even more water than anyone could have imagined, so much in fact that in its distant past a significant percentage of its surface was covered in oceans there were up to a mile deep.The discovery was made by calculating the rate at which water has been lost from Mars over the years and then going backwards to work out how much there must have been to begin with.

"Our study provides a solid estimate of how much water Mars once had, by determining how much water was lost to space," said NASA scientist Geronimo Villanueva.

"With this work, we can better understand the history of water on Mars."

The presence of so much water on the Red Planet suggests that the conditions would have been ideal for life to have developed there for much longer than previously thought.


Source: Independent

Tags: Mars, Water