China rover may have found evidence of recent water on Mars

Mars may have had liquid water on its surface as recently as 400,000 years ago, data from China’s Zhurong rover suggests

- JOANNA THOMPSON

Researchers used three of the craft’s instruments to sample sand dunes from Mars’ Utopia Planitia, a low-lying region in the northern hemisphere. In the region’s distinct, salty cracks, researchers believe they have found trace evidence of water from much more recently than previously discovered.

“We inferred that these dune surface characteristics were related to the involvement of liquid saline water formed by the subsequent melting of frost/snow falling on the salt-containing dune surfaces,” said Qin Xiaoguang, a geophysicist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.