NASA Study Says Water Flowed Freely On Mars

NASA has discovered more evidence pointing to the possibility of life on Mars.

Scientists have studied data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and they believe Mars once had large lakes, flowing rivers, and other wet environments that could have supported life. A study published in the July 17 issue of Nature shows that large ancient highlands of Mars contain clay minerals, which needed water to form. Volcanic lava buried the highlands, which cover about half of Mars' surface, but craters later exposed them in thousands of locations, NASA said.

NASA said the minerals record the interaction between water and rocks about 4.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago, soon after scientists believe the solar system formed. Scientists based their findings on information from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on the Reconnaissance Orbiter.