Mars used to have flowing water, which filled Jezero Crater with an enormous lake. Images of cliff faces taken by NASA’s Perseverance rover show the lake used to flood 3.7 billion years ago
January 26, 2021
Earth has had at least 5 major ice ages. Now it appears Mars – the next planet outward from the sun – has undergone anywhere from half a dozen to 20 ice ages in the past several hundred million years.
Glaciers below three craters in the Hellas Planitia region of Mars, now covered by rocky debris (left) and what they might look like if the ice was exposed (right). The image was created using image data from the Context Camera (CTX) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft combined with results from the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) on MRO and High Resolution Stereo Camera digital elevation map from the Mars Express spacecraft. Image via NASA/ Caltech/ JPL/ UTA/ UA/ MSSS/ ESA/ DLR.