Today we will learn something about the great floods on Mars, which are the last proof that there was life there in the past. In addition, it is quite possible that it still exists there.

It is remarkable that a probe named Perseverance will land on Mars soon to look for signs of ancient life. The NASA website has set a countdown to the landing date set for February 18, 2021. It currently flies at a relative speed relative to the Sun of an incredible 56 miles (932 km) per hour. After the probe landed, we could finally wait for answers to the fundamental questions: Was there ever life on Mars? And what is perhaps even more important if life still exists there now?

Ancient giant floods on Mars

Today, we gain further evidence that the Red Planet was able to support life. The previous Curiosity probe brought information revealing several news. We first learned that there was a huge flood on Mars four billion years ago. The orbiter revealed giant wavy features in the sedimentary layers at the bottom of Gale crater. These phenomena are called "mega waves" and "antidunes". They are an incredible 9 m in height and are about 140 m apart. Data from Curiosity indicated that the flood was indeed of biblical proportions.

Scientists logically believe that a meteorite hit the planet at the site of today's crater and caused the surface ice to melt. Subsequent huge floods then had an "unimaginable size". This is the first time that a large flood has been identified on Mars from the data obtained.

"We first identified the giant floods with detailed sedimentological data obtained by the Curiosity vehicle," said study co-author Alberto G. Fairen of Cornell University. Based on the analysis, scientists, including those from Cornell University in the USA, said that these floods of "unimaginable magnitude" created gigantic waves, which revealed geological structures well known to scientists on Earth.

Researchers also believe that the floods were followed by a period of global torrential rains and higher temperatures. So Fairen confirms that life on Mars was possible. "Early Mars was an geologically extremely active planet. The planet had the necessary conditions for the presence of liquid water on its surface - and on Earth, where there is water, there is life, "said Fairen.

A landscape similar to some contemporary places on Earth

On August 6, 2012, a one-ton Curiosity landed in a massive crater at the foot of a mountain called "Mount Sharp". This mountain is higher than Mount Rainier and three times higher than the depth of the Grand Canyon.

Scientists have chosen this site because of the abundant signs of the presence of water, a key ingredient for life. Last year, we shared reports of scientists discovering that Gale's Crater was once home to salt pools and lakes comparable to the present-day Altiplano Lakes in the Chilean Andes.

In September 2020, scientists from Italy, Australia and Germany discovered evidence of a salt lake under the southern ice cap. The water is still in liquid form, but it has such a high salt content that the lakes do not freeze completely. It is possible that water may have harbored extremophilic life forms that may live in low oxygen content and extreme temperatures.

When the three-meter Perseverance spacecraft with its smaller flying drone named "Ingenuity" lands, it will be at the site of a crater called the Lake. The lake used to be a huge river delta. Sediment from the bottom of the crater may contain signs of microbial life.

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