Lakes on Mars
Curiosity Rover Team Confirms Ancient Lakes on Mars
“A new study from the team behind NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity has confirmed that Mars was once, billions of years ago, capable of storing water in lakes over an extended period of time.”
Powerboats on Mars, earlier post (1998)
“Despite suggestions in various news tabloids, project scientists were quick to dispell any suggestion that the branched structure seen northeast of the dam-like structure is a marina. In making this statement, project scientists point out that there is very little air on Mars and that sailboats would be impractical nor is there enough Oxygen to support the internal or external combustion engines used in powerboats.”
So . . . another announcement that Water Once Flowed On Mars.
. . . Okay, that’s unfair. The real news there is that they’ve proven it was there for a very long period of time – potentially hundreds of millions of years. Finding out that Mars had liquid water on its surface as late as 3.3 billion years ago makes me much more optimistic over the prospect that life formed and then maybe went below the surface to stay with the warm water once the surface turned permanently inhospitable.