News Planetary Science

Unveiling Mars’ watery secret

By Ron Cowen

- More than 2 years ago

Mars may once have been a far wetter place than researchers have realized.

Actual gravity map (top) and predicted map based on Mars’ surface features (bottom). The discrepancy between the maps indicates low-density features in top image (blue), which could be buried channels. Zuber et al.

Laying bare a network of long-buried secrets, new gravity maps suggest that the Red Planet has an extensive system of channels, now covered by sediment, that several billion years ago were on the surface and may have carried water.