"Chinese Mars rover captures images of water-formed crusts on Red Planet"
China's Zhurong rover has discovered evidence of liquid water having been present less than half a million years ago in the Utopia Planitia region of Mars, which was previously thought to be too dry for liquid water to exist. The rover found features on dune surfaces that made researchers suspicious, including cracks and crusts that must have been left behind when liquid water evaporated from the soil. The presence of certain minerals and surface features observed by the rover indicate that frost or snow had once fallen, melted, and seeped into the upper layer of the soil, forming a brine after interacting with salt in the dunes and leaving salty crusts behind. This discovery could have implications for past or present habitability on Mars, and future rovers may search for signs of life in areas that were overlooked before.
