Curiosity Finds Strong Evidence Of The Presence Of Liquid Water On The Mars Surface

JAKARTA The search for water on Mars did not go easy. Although NASA's Curiosity rides have been exploring its surface for more than a decade, there are still many things that have not been found.

This is not surprising because Mars has very extreme environmental conditions, namely very hot and its atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide. This layer of gas is also very thin, so the evidence for the presence of water on Mars is very difficult to find.

However, a recent study published by a group of scientists in the form of journals at Science Advances revealed that Curiosity managed to find strong evidence of the presence of water. From the Curiosity data researched by scientists, they found two wave ripples.

This ripple of waves was found in Gale Crater and is believed to be a dry water body. The analytical results show that this waterbed formed about 3.7 billion years ago and its peak height reached 6mm with a distance of 4cm to 5cm.

Based on the size and distance, this ripple of waves may come from a shallow lake with a depth of less than 2 meters. From these findings, scientists concluded that Mars also has an open lake with a liquid, not frozen water flow.

The two ripples that Curiosity found were in different areas. A set of ripples, known as the Grow bulge, is in an area that was once thought to be a wind-blown dune, while the other area is near the Amapari Marker Band.

This finding still needs to be explored again to find out the elements of the ripple. For now, scientists conclude that the atmosphere and climate on Mars was warmer and denser so as to support the presence of liquid water in open spaces.