NASA's Curiosity Rover Discovers Wave Ripples Supporting History of Water on Mars

There is no doubt that there was water on Mars, according to the recent evidence found by NASA's Curiosity rover. The rover has found several pieces of evidence in the past, but the recent finding is reportedly the best.

NASA's Curiosity Rover Found The Best Evidence of Water on Mars

Curiosity is currently exploring Mount Sharp. The rover is on the foothills of a three-mile (five kilometers) tall mountain. In a video shared by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on YouTube, the rover found rippled textures during its exploration.

According to NASA, the rippled textures were due to waves in a shallow lake billion years ago. While the thought of Mars having a history of water wasn't surprising, the researchers admitted they were surprised to find such ripples in the area because it was probably formed at a time when Mars was becoming more dry.

Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said they have climbed many lake deposits during their mission but had never seen wave ripples until their exploration on Mount Sharp, The Space Academy reported. He added that it was "the best evidence of water and waves" they had seen in the entire mission.

They also found another intriguing clue above the rippled layer - rocks with repetitive patterns in their spacing and thickness. Although there are many layers on Mars, they aren't as regular as the recent one they discovered.

NASA wasn't sure about the reason behind the rhythmic pattern. However, the agency notes that it could be due to climate cycles like dust storms happening at periodic intervals.

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The landslide debris is the recent evidence of water found on Mars. It will allow NASA to study layers higher up on Mount Sharp. However, the agency said they couldn't reach it because it's so far up the mountain.

The finding was not surprising at all because Curiosity had already collected several pieces of evidence that lake once covered the planet due to the salty minerals left behind when they dried up.

Curiosity Rover Discovers Metal Meteorite on Mars

Aside from the best evidence of water on the Red Planet, the rover found a metal meteorite on the planet. The meteorite was called Cacao, where chocolates come from.

Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) captured 19 panorama images of the meteorite with its 100-millimeter focal length lens on Jan. 28. The photos were stitched together and were sent to Earth.

The space rock has noticeable grooves and pits, which probably formed when the meteorite traveled through the atmosphere.

The Red Planet has a thinner atmosphere than Earth. However, it still creates enough friction to heat a meteorite's surface. It remains unclear when Cacao arrived on Mars.