NASA’s Curiosity Rover Detects Signs of Mars Megafloods

The home-away-from-home of NASA Curiosity in the Gale Crater on Mars appears like a "fairly chill place." It is a little windy and dusty, but the place is dry, and its rocky landscape is described to be "settled and calm."

According to scientists, the atmosphere was not always like that. They have recently discovered evidence of what they described as "brutal megafloods" from deep in the past of the crater.

Reports on this new discovery said the wet history of Mars has been approaching greater concentration in recent years.

A study which the Scientific Reports journal published this month provides the "first identification of megafloods." This is due an on-the-ground observations Curiosity made.

The 'Megafloods'

In a Cornell University statement issued last week, the study's co-author and astrobiologist Alberto Fairen said, deposits which megafloods left behind "had not been previously identified with orbiter data."

Also, as stated in the report, the megaflooding would have occurred roughly four billion years ago and was possibly stimulated by a meteor effect that heated up ice on the surface of the planet, causing rainfall and sending flash floods flowing through the landscape. The Cornel statement described these occurrences as "floods of unimaginable magnitude."

The university also said the megafloods left telltale evidence behind, in giant wave-shaped feature forms muddy layers of Gale crater. Such feature forms are called 'megaripples' or antidunes.

In addition, the formations reach about 30-feet high and are spread out around roughly 450-feet apart. More so, these features reportedly look familiar to scientists who have observed similar shapes brought by melded-ice floods in the past of earth.

The megafloods' remnant signs in Gale Crater point to a both wet and warm climate from a long time ago. Fairen said the planet had the conditions "needed to support the liquid water's presence on the surface," as well as on Earth where there is life-and there is water.

NASA's Perseverance to Investigate Mars in 2021

Once it lands in February 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover is slated to investigate if Mars was once home to microbial life as it remains an open question.

Water might not only be a relic from the history of Mars. According to research, there may be "ancient undergrown lakes" concealed away on the red planet.

Furthermore, NASA developed a 'treasure map' as well to water ice deposits last year, that could come in handy for human explorers in the future. This same explores, reports specified, would be grateful to discover that the Mars megafloods have long disappeared.

The said treasure map underscores a region, also known as the Arcadia Planitia, where the planets were appearing to be, as if they were hiding deposits of shallow ice that could supply astronauts with essential water resources both for drinking and rocket fuel production.

Lead author of the water ice paper, NASA's Sylvain Piqueux said, one would no longer need a backhoe to dig up the ice, and added, "you could use a shovel."

Researchers of this particular study collected data from observations which the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Odyssey spacecraft made to develop the treasure map.

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