Did Mars Ever Look Like Earth? NASA Scientist Answers

Mars wasn't always as dry as it appears now, the NASA scientist said.

By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 14 October 2021 14:59 IST

Did Mars Ever Look Like Earth? NASA Scientist Answers

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ NASA

Scientists are currently exploring if Mars could support life in the future

Highlights

A NASA astrobiologist shared her thoughts on Mars' similarity
She said Mars and Earth were made "of the same stuff"
Mars exhibited evidence of past streams

Mars is quite similar to Earth, as per a NASA scientist. In a video interview, astrobiologoist Dr. Becky McCauley Rench said that the Red Planet wasn't as dry always, as we see it today. As per NASA's own website, “Mars, like Earth, has seasons, polar ice caps, volcanoes, canyons, and weather.” Signs of ancient floods have also been detected on Mars. Besides, there is evidence of liquid salty water as well, especially on some Martian hillsides, making our celestial neighbour similar to our own home planet.

On September 14, NASA shared the interview with Rench on Instagram. The question was straightforward and simple: Did Mars ever look like Earth? "Yes, we think it did. Ancient Mars may have been wetter and warmer — similar to our home planet," Rench answered.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NASA (@nasa)

Explaining further, Rench added that whenever the solar system was formed 4 billion years ago, Mars and Earth were made "of the same stuff" and so they looked very similar. "Today, whenever we look at Mars, we see a very dry planet as compared to earth which is, you know, our Blue Marble," she added.

Shining light on what makes her believe that Mars once looked like earth, Rench said that we see evidence of past streams and maybe Mars had a shallow northern ocean as well. "However, they diverged and we have two different planets today," she added.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

"As the Earth progressed with the development of life, on Mars the geologic activity subsided, it lost that water and became a much drier place. That's why it's so fascinating to study Mars. It helps us understand more about its past and future as well as understanding Earth and planetary evolution in our solar system and beyond," she said.

"So did Mars ever look like Earth? Yes, it did, a very, very long time ago," Rench concluded.

NASA says on its SpacePlace section that Mars, a cold desert world, is half the size of the earth. It's referred to as the Red planet because of rusty iron in the ground. "There are signs of ancient floods on Mars, but now water mostly exists in icy dirt and thin clouds," added the space agency.

Can You Guess What This Image Is? NASA Says It's Not a 'Potato'

Scientists have been wanting to understand if there was life on the Red Planet in the past. Missions are currently underway to figure out if Mars could support life now, or in the future.

GoPro-like gimbal gimmicks, and OIS on all four cameras — is Vivo X70 Pro+ worthy of Rs. 80,000? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.