Another
thing we
thought was
water on
Mars actually isn't water
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Back in 2011, NASA scientists
announced they had spotted compelling evidence that
water sometimes still flowed on Mars. Now, researchers are backpedaling on these watery conclusions.*
To NASA's credit, the 2011 evidence looked quite convincing. Images captured by the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — a NASA satellite orbiting
Mars — showed telltale dark streaks running down various mountains, valleys, and craters on Mars. They look strikingly similar to features formed on Earth's surface by flowing water.
But, according to a
new study in the journal
Nature Geoscience, it turns out these dark streaks are made mostly of "granular flow" — sand and perhaps rocks falling downhill — rather than
water flowing down valleys during the warmer Martian summers.*
Read more...
More about
Space,
Nasa,
Science,
Mars, and
Mars Orbiter