New analysis of data from the Curiosity rover reveals that much of the craters on Mars today could have once been habitable rivers.
“We’re finding evidence that Mars was likely a planet of rivers,” said Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geosciences and lead author on a new paper announcing the discovery. “We see signs of this all over the planet.”
In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, the researchers used numerical models to simulate erosion on Mars over millennia and found that common crater formations—called bench-and-nose landforms—are most likely remnants of ancient riverbeds.