Ancient water is not always science’s friend
Water anywhere is a boost to hopes that life may exist there, or in the case of now-arid Mars, have existed there in the ancient past.
But the Curiosity rover found rock samples in Gale Crater in 2019 that appeared to be washed clean of their geologic record. The culprit, according to scientists who reviewed the mud layers, was briny water that leeched through an ancient lake bed, altering the layers of minerals on the site.
On Mars, not all stones reveal the full story. This gives scientists even more reason to image a large quantity of rocks, in order to better understand the geological and fluvial processes on the planet.
