Briley Lewis (she/her) is a freelance science writer and Ph.D. Candidate/NSF Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles studying Astronomy & Astrophysics. Follow her on Twitter @briles_34 or visit her website www.briley-lewis.com.
in 2008 and beyond. Humans are naturally obsessed with water, since it's such a key ingredient for life — whether that's finding alien life or supporting our own during human space travel. Although it's well-established that Mars had some water at some point, planetary scientists are still trying to figure out the details of the timeline and just how much water was flowing.
The rover found a combination of iron-rich minerals, like olivine and pyroxene, which are usually found in volcanic rocks, plus versions of the minerals that had been altered by water and brine, like hematite. The chemistry of these minerals tells a story of flowing lava that encountered water multiple times. The first time water flowed, it was warm — and later, the water was salty. This water could have taken the form of lakes, or maybe even groundwater flowing through the rocks.
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