For the past 10 years, the Curiosity rover has been traveling the Martian expanse in search of signs that once the planet might have had the conditions for the formation of life. Recently, the device visited a location, the formations in which indicate that once there might be lakes.
At the foot of Mount Sharp, the Curiosity rover found evidence of clay minerals formed from lakes and streams that were once located in the Gale Crater region. The higher up the mountain, the long-dry streams were covered with dunes.
The transition zone is visible as the clay-rich region gives way to mineral sulfate, which may indicate a significant change in the climate of Mars that occurred billions of years ago.
The rover will soon take samples from the transition zone to learn more regarding the mineral composition of the rocks, allowing scientists to build a model of what the region was like long before the lander arrived on the planet.
In addition, the rover found traces of precipitation that carried water flows through the sand dunes. Now they look like multi-layered stones and jagged edges.
According to popular theories, once on Mars there might be large bodies of water, rivers and even oceans. Something led to the loss of the planet’s atmosphere, the water dried up or turned into ice that went under the surface. Scientists still do not give up hope to find at least some signs of life. And if we manage to find at least primitive microbes, then this will be a breakthrough for understanding how life appeared on the planets.