Hold onto your space helmets! 🪐 China's Zhurong rover has uncovered groundbreaking evidence suggesting Mars once hosted a vast ancient ocean, rewriting our understanding of the Red Planet's history and its potential to nurture life. Published in Scientific Reports, the study combines data from Zhurong’s mission with satellite observations, revealing what scientists believe was a nearshore marine environment in Mars’ northern lowlands billions of years ago.
🚀 Landing on Utopia Planitia in 2021 as part of China’s Tianwen-1 mission, Zhurong has been busy analyzing Martian geology. The rover’s findings point to massive flooding around 3.68 billion years back, with researchers describing a ‘frozen ocean surface’ that existed briefly. \"Imagine Mars as a dynamic water world,\" said Bo Wu, a planetary scientist at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. \"This discovery changes how we see the planet’s evolution.\"
🔍 The study maps out ancient marine landscapes – including shallow zones and deeper environments – suggesting water activity during Mars’ Late Noachian epoch. But by 3.42 billion years ago, the ocean vanished, leaving behind a cold, dusty desert. Co-author Sergey Krasilnikov added: \"The water was silty, creating layered deposits we’re now uncovering.\"
🌏 This discovery isn’t just for science nerds – it fuels global excitement about Mars’ potential to have once supported life. Could future missions find fossils? 👽 Stay tuned!
