Exploratour - Water on Mars

This is an image showing the Mars Pathfinder landing site.
Click on image for full size
NASA

Pathfinder Results

The rocks, the soils, and erosion patterns found at the Mars Pathfinder landing site have been used by scientists to draw conclusions about water on Mars. The evidence gathered by Mars Pathfinder suggested that the rocks found there were formed in a water environment, and were deposited by moving water.

Analysis of the landing site confirmed that Ares Valles was indeed created in a catastrophic flood. The analysis showed further that:

  • water processes have been taking place on Mars over a long period of time,
  • that liquid water is in equilibrium with the atmosphere,
  • that Mars was both warmer and wetter in the past.

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