Scientists say that Mars had water and could be habitable in about three billion years ago.
The Rover Opportunity found on Mars a few meteorites that helped the researchers determine how fast the planet lost water and when it appeared the eternal drought.
The findings of scientists was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Four meteorite was discovered near the equator of the red planet. The meteorites have enabled researchers to determine the history of the disappearance of water on Mars due to the fact that they contain a sufficiently large amount of iron and other metals, which are oxidized and converted into various salts and hydroxides under the effect of water and oxygen.
Accordingly, the more water and oxygen present in the air, the more oxidized iron will be present on the surface of the meteorite. Following this idea, the researchers analyzed the spectra of these “heavenly stones” to Mars with the tools of the Rover, and compared them with the data that was obtained from the analysis of meteorites that fell to Earth.
The analysis showed that Mars was very dry planet in a time when on the surface of fallen meteorites. They range in age from 20 to 70 million years, and even back then, the Red planet was dry. When did this drought, scientists still can not explain, however, this discovery suggests that the dry and liquid water on Mars at the moment, hardly exists.
