This is huge. There, I said it as blatantly as I can. Through Curiosity, NASA has discovered what was once a riverbed on Mars. This means at some point there was water on Mars. That alone is monumental. What else it could theoretically mean is that there could have once been life on Mars. Mind blown, I know.
Cursorily, everyone’s favorite Mars rover, discovered rocks containing streambed gravel in them. The rounded shape of these stones indicates long-distance transportation – further than wind could take a stone and it suggests some sort of flow occurred for quite a long time.
Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said, "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment. It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment."
Further proof that we may not be alone out here folk; I can’t wait to see how this all develops. Curiosity hasn’t been on the Red Planet for all that long. I think this discovery will just be another feather in its hat as part of its long list of accomplishments. Keep at it NASA.
[NASA]
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