Mars’s History and Recent Water Evidence: Key Discoveries

A year lasting 687 Earth days, a day lasting 24 hours, 37 minutes, and 23 seconds, an average temperature of -23°C and a gravity just over one-third that of Earth, a thin atmosphere composed primarily of argon, nitrogen, ozone, and water vapor, with 95 percent carbon dioxide, polar caps covered with frozen carbon dioxide, seasonal sandstorms. This is Mars, the Red Planet that, with its distinctive terrain etched with long channels, has always sparked our science fiction fantasies.

Formation and potential for life on Mars

Perhaps five billion years ago, when it formed, all the prerequisites for life to emerge were present. Today, analysis of meteorites and rocks collected in 1977 by the Sojourner spacecraft supports these theories, as it increasingly seems likely that the planet was once rich in water, providing a fertile ground for the emergence of living forms.

Recent discoveries and surface images

The latest news, initially reported by Space.com, concerns photographs taken by the Global Surveyor probe: in the center of a valley over 2,000 kilometers long and up to 8 kilometers deep, called Candor Chasm, fissures are visible from which water appears to flow before quickly evaporating.