Science Happening Now

ANCIENT MARS: AN OASIS? The NASA Mars rover, Curiosity, examines the surface of Mars to learn more about its geology and history. Recently, from 100-mile-wide Gale Crater, Curiosity collected material that scientists say contain special mineral salts. The researchers claim that such salts would likely have been the result of briny ponds on Mars, long ago. The ponds would have represented a time of altering wet and dry climate periods on the Red Planet. These potential briny remnants stand apart from other areas of the crater, which in contrast bear evidence of prior freshwater lakes. The crater provides a record of the changing surface of Mars, from which scientists can learn more about how Mars evolved over time. As scientists use the Curiosity rover to dig deeper in the mystery of the Martian past, they may be able to answer whether Mars once hosted microbial life on its surface.