Hold onto your space helmets! Chinese scientists just dropped cosmic news: Mars had liquid water 750 million years longer than we ever imagined. The discovery comes from data collected by China's Zhurong rover – our new favorite interplanetary detective 🔍.
Using ground-penetrating radar (think: planetary MRI scans), Zhurong found evidence of ancient shallow seas or lakes in Mars' Utopia Planitia region. This rewrites the red planet's history book – turns out it stayed wet long after scientists thought it became a dry desert 🏜️→🌊.
Why This Rocks Your Solar System
• Pushes Mars' “wet phase” timeline to just 750 million years ago • Reveals 4-meter-thick sedimentary layers from water activity • Found cm-scale patterns only formed in aquatic environments
Lead researcher Liu Yike told us: “This isn't just puddles – we're talking sustained water presence during Mars' middle-late Amazonian period. Game-changer for understanding alien life potential!”
Zhurong's been crushing its mission since landing in 2021, rolling nearly 2km across Martian terrain. Its findings could help future astronauts find water sources – maybe even clues about ancient microbial life 👽.
