Latest news with #Viking2
Scottish Sun
24-05-2025
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Martian ‘kneeling to pray', monstrous spiders, secret doorway and Ghandi's FACE – the creepiest pics of Mars ever taken
A giant creature's face has also been spotted ALIEN WORLD Martian 'kneeling to pray', monstrous spiders, secret doorway and Ghandi's FACE – the creepiest pics of Mars ever taken Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) EVEN though humans have never set foot on Mars, we've still got plenty of photos of the red planet. And if you went by those pics alone, you'd think the Martian surface was littered with mysterious faces, swarms of monstrous spiders, and even alien beings. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 15 This legendary Martian feature has been famous around the world since the 1970s Credit: NASA/JPL 15 It looks like a stone carving of a giant human (or even alien) face Credit: NASA/JPL Of course, Mars is just a barren wasteland – only occupied by camera-toting rovers shipped there from Earth. So why do we see all of these strange faces and figures on Mars? Well it's a phenomenon known as pareidolia, which is a human tendency to see patterns when there isn't one – and it's often to blame for those bizarre sightings on the red planet. Here are some of the creepiest "sightings" from our space neighbour, Mars. CYDONIA 'FACE ON MARS' One of the most iconic Martian faces is from the Cydonia region. The feature was first captured in 1976, revealing a strikingly humanlike formation on the Martian surface. Early images of the region were snapped by Viking 1 and Viking 2, a pair of Nasa orbiters tasked with imaging Mars. It's since been captured in several later photographs, clearly exposing it as an optical illusion. Sadly it's not a giant alien face at all – but a massive 1.2-mile-long Cydonian mesa. The region is known for its flat-topped mesas. SPACED OUT Stunning images of Mars surface revealed by Nasa BEAR WE GO 15 The giant face of a bear was captured on the Martian surface Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Forget Stonehenge – what about a giant bear circle? That's what was seemingly snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on December 12, 2022. It looks like the face of an enormous grizzly, but it's actually just a weird hill, as Nasa explains: "A V-shaped collapse structure makes the nose, two craters form the eyes, and a circular fracture pattern shapes the head. "The circular fracture pattern might be due to the settling of a deposit over a buried impact crater." LEG IT! 15 Arachnophobes, look away now Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS 15 These strange spider-like formations aren't eight-legged critters – and that's very good news Credit: Nasa / JPL / MRO Several images of what look like terrifyingly large spiders have been captured on Mars. The first was caught by the European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in October 2020, and the second was picked up by Nasa's MRO in May 2018. Thankfully they're not spiders at all – but a strange phenomenon called "araneiform terrain". "This is an active seasonal process not seen on Earth," Nasa explained. "Like dry ice on Earth, the carbon dioxide ice on Mars sublimates as it warms (changes from solid to gas) and the gas becomes trapped below the surface. "Over time the trapped carbon dioxide gas builds in pressure and is eventually strong enough to break through the ice as a jet that erupts dust. "The gas is released into the atmosphere and darker dust may be deposited around the vent or transported by winds to produce streaks. "The loss of the sublimated carbon dioxide leaves behind these spider-like features etched into the surface." LIVING ON A PRAYER 15 All the way to the far left of this image is what appears to be a Martian Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University 15 Look closely – can you see him? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University (highlighted by The Sun) 15 The striking image appears to show a kneeling man Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University (cropped by The Sun) In 2007, Nasa's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured what appeared to be a person kneeling in prayer. It made headlines around the world when the image was released in early 2008. The eerie scene was part of a vast panorama of Martian hills taken during the closing months of Spirit's mission. Of course, all we're actually seeing is an interesting rock, and a trick of the light. GHANDI'S MARTIAN TWIN 15 Is this the face of Ghandi on Mars? Credit: ESA 15 Can you see any resemblance to Indian statesman and activist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi? Credit: Getty - Contributor Pictures from Europe's Mars Express probe appear to have captured a Ghandi lookalike on Mars. The Mars Orbiter has been used to pack out the Google Mars project with satellite-style snaps of the red planet. And in 2011, Italian space fan Matteo Lanneo thought he spotted Ghandi's likeness on the surface. Of course, it's just another classic example of pareidolia, where we're simply seeing things that aren't really there. 15 Here's a better and higher-resolution snap of the spot captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which much more clearly shows a collapse pit rather than a hill Credit: ASU Mars Space Flight Facility MARTIAN DOORWAY 15 A panoramic image captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover shows a secret doorway Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 15 Nasa used its data to create a measurement of the 'doorway' Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 15 The space agency says it's just a common type of fracture Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS In mid-2022, Nasa captured what appeared to be a "doorway" into a mound of rock nicknamed 'East Cliffs'. The picture of the mound on Mount Sharp was snapped by Nasa's Curiosity Rover. Sadly it's not really a doorway, as Nasa explains: "The mound, on Mount Sharp, has a number of naturally occurring open fractures – including one roughly 12 inches (30 centimeters) tall and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide, similar in size to a dog door. "These kinds of open fractures are common in bedrock, both on Earth and on Mars."
The Irish Sun
24-05-2025
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Martian ‘kneeling to pray', monstrous spiders, secret doorway and Ghandi's FACE – the creepiest pics of Mars ever taken
EVEN though humans have never set foot on Mars, we've still got plenty of photos of the red planet. And if you went by those pics alone, you'd think the Martian surface was littered with mysterious faces, swarms of monstrous spiders, and even alien beings. Advertisement 15 This legendary Martian feature has been famous around the world since the 1970s Credit: NASA/JPL 15 It looks like a stone carving of a giant human (or even alien) face Credit: NASA/JPL Of course, Mars is just a barren wasteland – only occupied by camera-toting rovers shipped there from Earth. So why do we see all of these strange faces and figures on Mars? Well it's a phenomenon known as pareidolia, which is a human tendency to see patterns when there isn't one – and it's often to blame for those bizarre sightings on the red planet. Here are some of the creepiest "sightings" from our space neighbour, Mars. Advertisement Read more on Nasa CYDONIA 'FACE ON MARS' One of the most iconic Martian faces is from the Cydonia region. The feature was first captured in 1976, revealing a strikingly humanlike formation on the Martian surface. Early images of the region were snapped by Viking 1 and Viking 2, a pair of Nasa orbiters tasked with imaging Mars. It's since been captured in several later photographs, clearly exposing it as an optical illusion. Advertisement Most read in Science Sadly it's not a giant alien face at all – but a massive 1.2-mile-long Cydonian mesa. The region is known for its flat-topped mesas. SPACED OUT Stunning images of Mars surface revealed by Nasa BEAR WE GO 15 The giant face of a bear was captured on the Martian surface Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona Forget Stonehenge – what about Advertisement That's what was seemingly snapped by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on December 12, 2022. It looks like the face of an enormous grizzly, but it's actually just a weird hill, as Nasa explains: "A V-shaped collapse structure makes the nose, two craters form the eyes, and a circular fracture pattern shapes the head. "The circular fracture pattern might be due to the settling of a deposit over a buried impact crater." LEG IT! 15 Arachnophobes, look away now Credit: ESA/TGO/CaSSIS Advertisement 15 These strange spider-like formations aren't eight-legged critters – and that's very good news Credit: Nasa / JPL / MRO Several images of what look like The first was caught by the European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in October 2020, and the second was picked up by Nasa's MRO in May 2018. Thankfully they're not spiders at all – but a strange phenomenon called "araneiform terrain". Advertisement "This is an active seasonal process not seen on Earth," Nasa explained. "Like dry ice on Earth, the carbon dioxide ice on Mars sublimates as it warms (changes from solid to gas) and the gas becomes trapped below the surface. "Over time the trapped carbon dioxide gas builds in pressure and is eventually strong enough to break through the ice as a jet that erupts dust. "The gas is released into the atmosphere and darker dust may be deposited around the vent or transported by winds to produce streaks. Advertisement "The loss of the sublimated carbon dioxide leaves behind these spider-like features etched into the surface." LIVING ON A PRAYER 15 All the way to the far left of this image is what appears to be a Martian Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University 15 Look closely – can you see him? Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University (highlighted by The Sun) 15 The striking image appears to show a kneeling man Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University (cropped by The Sun) Advertisement In 2007, Nasa's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit captured what appeared to be a person kneeling in prayer. It made headlines around the world when the image was released in early 2008. The eerie scene was part of a vast panorama of Martian hills taken during the closing months of Spirit's mission. Of course, all we're actually seeing is an interesting rock, and a trick of the light. Advertisement GHANDI'S MARTIAN TWIN 15 Is this the face of Ghandi on Mars? Credit: ESA 15 Can you see any resemblance to Indian statesman and activist Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi? Credit: Getty - Contributor Pictures from Europe 's Mars Express probe appear to have captured a Ghandi lookalike on Mars. The Mars Orbiter has been used to pack out the Google Mars project with satellite-style snaps of the red planet. Advertisement And in 2011, Italian space fan Matteo Lanneo thought he spotted Ghandi's likeness on the surface. Of course, it's just another classic example of pareidolia, where we're simply seeing things that aren't really there. 15 Here's a better and higher-resolution snap of the spot captured by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which much more clearly shows a collapse pit rather than a hill Credit: ASU Mars Space Flight Facility MARTIAN DOORWAY 15 A panoramic image captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover shows a secret doorway Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Advertisement 15 Nasa used its data to create a measurement of the 'doorway' Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 15 The space agency says it's just a common type of fracture Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS In mid-2022, Nasa captured The picture of the mound on Mount Sharp was snapped by Nasa's Curiosity Rover. Advertisement Sadly it's not really a doorway, as Nasa explains: "The mound, on Mount Sharp, has a number of naturally occurring open fractures – including one roughly 12 inches (30 centimeters) tall and 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide, similar in size to a dog door. "These kinds of open fractures are common in bedrock, both on Earth and on Mars." 15 Mars is our closest neighbour – and is a strange and mysterious alien world still unexplored by humans Credit: Nasa
CNN
28-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
China's Mars rover makes stunning discovery in search for evidence of ancient water
Mars may have once hosted an ocean with waves that lapped against sandy beaches 3.6 billion years ago, according to new research. China's Zhurong rover and its ground-penetrating radar detected the ancient shorelines when it operated from May 2021 to May 2022. The rover landed in Utopia Planitia, a plain within the largest known impact basin on Mars, near a series of ridges in the planet's northern hemisphere. Scientists have long questioned whether the ridges might represent the remnants of a shoreline, so Zhurong set out in search of evidence of ancient water. The study, based on data collected by Zhurong as its radar instrument peered beneath the surface to examine hidden rock layers, was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas,' said study coauthor Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geology in the department of geosciences at Penn State, in a statement. 'We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand — a proper, vacation-style beach.' What's more, it's possible the Martian environment was warmer and wetter for tens of millions of years longer than previously suspected, the study authors wrote. The revelations add to the increasing evidence that the red planet once had a warmer, wetter climate as well as an ocean that covered one-third of the Martian surface — conditions that might have created a hospitable environment for life. The search for Mars' ancient ocean In the 1970s, NASA's Mariner 9 and Viking 2 were the first missions to spy features that suggested the presence of an ancient ocean on Mars. Utopia Planitia dates to the Hesperian Period, or 3.7 billion to 3 billion years ago, and it lacks abundant evidence for standing water, unlike more ancient regions of Mars, said Aaron Cavosie, a planetary scientist and senior lecturer at the Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Cavosie was not involved in the new study. 'The Mariner 9 orbiter first imaged giant canyons on Hesperian surfaces of Mars in the 1970s, but they are generally viewed as representing catastrophic bursts of groundwater to the surface, rather than evidence for standing water,' Cavosie said. 'The idea is that Mars' climate cooled down by this time and the surface dried up.' Multiple spacecraft have captured observations that suggest much of Mars' water escaped to space as the planet's atmosphere disappeared — astronomers are still investigating what caused this dramatic transformation. As the planet cooled, some of the water likely moved underground in the form of ice or combined with rocks to create minerals. Viking's images showcased what appeared to be a shoreline in the northern hemisphere. But in stark contrast to the level shorelines on Earth, the Martian feature was jaggedly irregular, with height differences of up to 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). Study coauthor Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues previously suggested that volcanic activity in the region, as well as a change in Mars' rotation, altered the shoreline and caused it to be uneven over time. 'Because the spin axis of Mars has changed, the shape of Mars has changed. And so what used to be flat is no longer flat,' Manga said. But what scientists needed most to answer their questions were observations made from 'boots on the ground,' or in this case, rover tracks, Cavosie said. Zhurong would be able to see whether the rock layers buried in Utopia Planitia were volcanic or if they contained sediments consistent with those of an ocean. The dip of a shoreline When Zhurong landed, it traveled along Utopia Planitia's ridges, collecting data up to 260 feet (80 meters) beneath the surface with radar. Between 32.8 and 114.8 feet (10 and 35 meters) down, the rover's radar detected sedimentary structures similar to layered beaches on Earth that dipped at a 14.5-degree angle. The radar also measured the size of the particles, which matched that of sand grains. 'The structures don't look like sand dunes,' Manga said. 'They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans. The orientation of these features (is) parallel to what the old shoreline would have been.' The structures strongly resembled coastal sediment deposits on Earth, such as those found in the Bay of Bengal, formed by the presence of a long-term stable ocean, the study authors said. The team said it believes the rover found 'foreshore deposits,' which take millions of years to form as sediments carried by tides and waves slope downward toward an ocean. 'This stood out to us immediately because it suggests there were waves, which means there was a dynamic interface of air and water,' Cardenas said. 'When we look back at where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between oceans and land, so this is painting a picture of ancient habitable environments, capable of harboring conditions friendly toward microbial life.' Rivers likely helped dump sediment into the oceans, which was then distributed by waves to create beaches. Sedimentary rocks, carved channels and even the remains of an ancient river delta, studied by NASA's Perseverance rover, have shown how water once shaped the Martian landscape. After the ocean dried up, the beaches were likely blanketed by volcanic eruptions and material from dust storms, effectively preserving the shoreline, Cardenas said. 'It's always a challenge to know how the last 3.5 billion years of erosion on Mars might have altered or completely erased evidence of an ocean,' he said. 'But not with these deposits. This is a very unique dataset.' Now, the team wants to determine the height of the waves and tides within the ocean, how long the ocean persisted, and whether it provided a potentially hospitable environment, Magna said. François Forget, senior research scientist and research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said he isn't entirely convinced by the hypothesis presented in the study that only ocean shorelines can explain the radar data. Forget was not involved in the new research. 'I do not think that we can be certain that the observations could not be explained by dune processes,' or the formation of sand dunes, which Forget said he believes to be more likely on Mars. Meanwhile, Dr. Joe McNeil, a planetary scientist and postdoctoral researcher at London's Natural History Museum, believes the findings add weight to the hypothesis of an ancient northern ocean on Mars by providing crucial subsurface evidence. McNeil was not involved in the new study. 'If these coastal deposits truly represent deposition of sediments at the edge of an ancient ocean, it suggests a prolonged period of stable liquid water, which has major implications for Mars' climate history,' McNeil said. 'It would mean Mars had conditions that could have supported a hydrological system with potential habitable environments for substantial amounts of time.'
CNN
28-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
China's Mars rover makes stunning discovery in search for evidence of ancient water
Mars may have once hosted an ocean with waves that lapped against sandy beaches 3.6 billion years ago, according to new research. China's Zhurong rover and its ground-penetrating radar detected the ancient shorelines when it operated from May 2021 to May 2022. The rover landed in Utopia Planitia, a plain within the largest known impact basin on Mars, near a series of ridges in the planet's northern hemisphere. Scientists have long questioned whether the ridges might represent the remnants of a shoreline, so Zhurong set out in search of evidence of ancient water. The study, based on data collected by Zhurong as its radar instrument peered beneath the surface to examine hidden rock layers, was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas,' said study coauthor Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geology in the department of geosciences at Penn State, in a statement. 'We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand — a proper, vacation-style beach.' What's more, it's possible the Martian environment was warmer and wetter for tens of millions of years longer than previously suspected, the study authors wrote. The revelations add to the increasing evidence that the red planet once had a warmer, wetter climate as well as an ocean that covered one-third of the Martian surface — conditions that might have created a hospitable environment for life. The search for Mars' ancient ocean In the 1970s, NASA's Mariner 9 and Viking 2 were the first missions to spy features that suggested the presence of an ancient ocean on Mars. Utopia Planitia dates to the Hesperian Period, or 3.7 billion to 3 billion years ago, and it lacks abundant evidence for standing water, unlike more ancient regions of Mars, said Aaron Cavosie, a planetary scientist and senior lecturer at the Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Cavosie was not involved in the new study. 'The Mariner 9 orbiter first imaged giant canyons on Hesperian surfaces of Mars in the 1970s, but they are generally viewed as representing catastrophic bursts of groundwater to the surface, rather than evidence for standing water,' Cavosie said. 'The idea is that Mars' climate cooled down by this time and the surface dried up.' Multiple spacecraft have captured observations that suggest much of Mars' water escaped to space as the planet's atmosphere disappeared — astronomers are still investigating what caused this dramatic transformation. As the planet cooled, some of the water likely moved underground in the form of ice or combined with rocks to create minerals. Viking's images showcased what appeared to be a shoreline in the northern hemisphere. But in stark contrast to the level shorelines on Earth, the Martian feature was jaggedly irregular, with height differences of up to 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). Study coauthor Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues previously suggested that volcanic activity in the region, as well as a change in Mars' rotation, altered the shoreline and caused it to be uneven over time. 'Because the spin axis of Mars has changed, the shape of Mars has changed. And so what used to be flat is no longer flat,' Manga said. But what scientists needed most to answer their questions were observations made from 'boots on the ground,' or in this case, rover tracks, Cavosie said. Zhurong would be able to see whether the rock layers buried in Utopia Planitia were volcanic or if they contained sediments consistent with those of an ocean. The dip of a shoreline When Zhurong landed, it traveled along Utopia Planitia's ridges, collecting data up to 260 feet (80 meters) beneath the surface with radar. Between 32.8 and 114.8 feet (10 and 35 meters) down, the rover's radar detected sedimentary structures similar to layered beaches on Earth that dipped at a 14.5-degree angle. The radar also measured the size of the particles, which matched that of sand grains. 'The structures don't look like sand dunes,' Manga said. 'They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans. The orientation of these features (is) parallel to what the old shoreline would have been.' The structures strongly resembled coastal sediment deposits on Earth, such as those found in the Bay of Bengal, formed by the presence of a long-term stable ocean, the study authors said. The team said it believes the rover found 'foreshore deposits,' which take millions of years to form as sediments carried by tides and waves slope downward toward an ocean. 'This stood out to us immediately because it suggests there were waves, which means there was a dynamic interface of air and water,' Cardenas said. 'When we look back at where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between oceans and land, so this is painting a picture of ancient habitable environments, capable of harboring conditions friendly toward microbial life.' Rivers likely helped dump sediment into the oceans, which was then distributed by waves to create beaches. Sedimentary rocks, carved channels and even the remains of an ancient river delta, studied by NASA's Perseverance rover, have shown how water once shaped the Martian landscape. After the ocean dried up, the beaches were likely blanketed by volcanic eruptions and material from dust storms, effectively preserving the shoreline, Cardenas said. 'It's always a challenge to know how the last 3.5 billion years of erosion on Mars might have altered or completely erased evidence of an ocean,' he said. 'But not with these deposits. This is a very unique dataset.' Now, the team wants to determine the height of the waves and tides within the ocean, how long the ocean persisted, and whether it provided a potentially hospitable environment, Magna said. François Forget, senior research scientist and research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said he isn't entirely convinced by the hypothesis presented in the study that only ocean shorelines can explain the radar data. Forget was not involved in the new research. 'I do not think that we can be certain that the observations could not be explained by dune processes,' or the formation of sand dunes, which Forget said he believes to be more likely on Mars. Meanwhile, Dr. Joe McNeil, a planetary scientist and postdoctoral researcher at London's Natural History Museum, believes the findings add weight to the hypothesis of an ancient northern ocean on Mars by providing crucial subsurface evidence. McNeil was not involved in the new study. 'If these coastal deposits truly represent deposition of sediments at the edge of an ancient ocean, it suggests a prolonged period of stable liquid water, which has major implications for Mars' climate history,' McNeil said. 'It would mean Mars had conditions that could have supported a hydrological system with potential habitable environments for substantial amounts of time.'
CNN
28-02-2025
- Science
- CNN
China's Mars rover makes stunning discovery in search for evidence of ancient water
Mars may have once hosted an ocean with waves that lapped against sandy beaches 3.6 billion years ago, according to new research. China's Zhurong rover and its ground-penetrating radar detected the ancient shorelines when it operated from May 2021 to May 2022. The rover landed in Utopia Planitia, a plain within the largest known impact basin on Mars, near a series of ridges in the planet's northern hemisphere. Scientists have long questioned whether the ridges might represent the remnants of a shoreline, so Zhurong set out in search of evidence of ancient water. The study, based on data collected by Zhurong as its radar instrument peered beneath the surface to examine hidden rock layers, was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 'We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas,' said study coauthor Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geology in the department of geosciences at Penn State, in a statement. 'We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand — a proper, vacation-style beach.' What's more, it's possible the Martian environment was warmer and wetter for tens of millions of years longer than previously suspected, the study authors wrote. The revelations add to the increasing evidence that the red planet once had a warmer, wetter climate as well as an ocean that covered one-third of the Martian surface — conditions that might have created a hospitable environment for life. The search for Mars' ancient ocean In the 1970s, NASA's Mariner 9 and Viking 2 were the first missions to spy features that suggested the presence of an ancient ocean on Mars. Utopia Planitia dates to the Hesperian Period, or 3.7 billion to 3 billion years ago, and it lacks abundant evidence for standing water, unlike more ancient regions of Mars, said Aaron Cavosie, a planetary scientist and senior lecturer at the Space Science and Technology Centre at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Cavosie was not involved in the new study. 'The Mariner 9 orbiter first imaged giant canyons on Hesperian surfaces of Mars in the 1970s, but they are generally viewed as representing catastrophic bursts of groundwater to the surface, rather than evidence for standing water,' Cavosie said. 'The idea is that Mars' climate cooled down by this time and the surface dried up.' Multiple spacecraft have captured observations that suggest much of Mars' water escaped to space as the planet's atmosphere disappeared — astronomers are still investigating what caused this dramatic transformation. As the planet cooled, some of the water likely moved underground in the form of ice or combined with rocks to create minerals. Viking's images showcased what appeared to be a shoreline in the northern hemisphere. But in stark contrast to the level shorelines on Earth, the Martian feature was jaggedly irregular, with height differences of up to 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). Study coauthor Michael Manga, a professor of Earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues previously suggested that volcanic activity in the region, as well as a change in Mars' rotation, altered the shoreline and caused it to be uneven over time. 'Because the spin axis of Mars has changed, the shape of Mars has changed. And so what used to be flat is no longer flat,' Manga said. But what scientists needed most to answer their questions were observations made from 'boots on the ground,' or in this case, rover tracks, Cavosie said. Zhurong would be able to see whether the rock layers buried in Utopia Planitia were volcanic or if they contained sediments consistent with those of an ocean. The dip of a shoreline When Zhurong landed, it traveled along Utopia Planitia's ridges, collecting data up to 260 feet (80 meters) beneath the surface with radar. Between 32.8 and 114.8 feet (10 and 35 meters) down, the rover's radar detected sedimentary structures similar to layered beaches on Earth that dipped at a 14.5-degree angle. The radar also measured the size of the particles, which matched that of sand grains. 'The structures don't look like sand dunes,' Manga said. 'They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans. The orientation of these features (is) parallel to what the old shoreline would have been.' The structures strongly resembled coastal sediment deposits on Earth, such as those found in the Bay of Bengal, formed by the presence of a long-term stable ocean, the study authors said. The team said it believes the rover found 'foreshore deposits,' which take millions of years to form as sediments carried by tides and waves slope downward toward an ocean. 'This stood out to us immediately because it suggests there were waves, which means there was a dynamic interface of air and water,' Cardenas said. 'When we look back at where the earliest life on Earth developed, it was in the interaction between oceans and land, so this is painting a picture of ancient habitable environments, capable of harboring conditions friendly toward microbial life.' Rivers likely helped dump sediment into the oceans, which was then distributed by waves to create beaches. Sedimentary rocks, carved channels and even the remains of an ancient river delta, studied by NASA's Perseverance rover, have shown how water once shaped the Martian landscape. After the ocean dried up, the beaches were likely blanketed by volcanic eruptions and material from dust storms, effectively preserving the shoreline, Cardenas said. 'It's always a challenge to know how the last 3.5 billion years of erosion on Mars might have altered or completely erased evidence of an ocean,' he said. 'But not with these deposits. This is a very unique dataset.' Now, the team wants to determine the height of the waves and tides within the ocean, how long the ocean persisted, and whether it provided a potentially hospitable environment, Magna said. François Forget, senior research scientist and research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, said he isn't entirely convinced by the hypothesis presented in the study that only ocean shorelines can explain the radar data. Forget was not involved in the new research. 'I do not think that we can be certain that the observations could not be explained by dune processes,' or the formation of sand dunes, which Forget said he believes to be more likely on Mars. Meanwhile, Dr. Joe McNeil, a planetary scientist and postdoctoral researcher at London's Natural History Museum, believes the findings add weight to the hypothesis of an ancient northern ocean on Mars by providing crucial subsurface evidence. McNeil was not involved in the new study. 'If these coastal deposits truly represent deposition of sediments at the edge of an ancient ocean, it suggests a prolonged period of stable liquid water, which has major implications for Mars' climate history,' McNeil said. 'It would mean Mars had conditions that could have supported a hydrological system with potential habitable environments for substantial amounts of time.'
