“Mars was once wet, with an ocean’s worth of water on its surface. Today, most of Mars is as dry as a desert except for ice deposits in its polar regions. Where did the rest of the water go? Some of it disappeared into space. Water molecules, pummeled by particles of solar wind, broke apart into hydrogen and oxygen atoms, and those, especially the lighter hydrogen atoms, sped out of the atmosphere, lost to outer space. But most of the water, a new study concludes, went down, sucked into the red planet’s rocks. And there it remains, trapped within minerals and salts. Indeed, as much as 99 percent of the water that once flowed on Mars could still be there, the researchers estimated in a paper published this week in the journal Science. ...”
Inside Jezero Crater: NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Thursday in Jezero Crater, an ancient Martian lake roughly the size of Lake Tahoe. The rover will spend years exploring the river delta and making its way to the crater rim.
