The Martian surface was awash with water in its obscure and distant past, according to a NASA team reporting on the latest studies coming from Mars Pathfinder, the probe that touched down on Mars a year ago.
Pathfinder has shut down, but the masses of data it provided are still being analysed, along with data coming from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, now in orbit around Mars.
Mars had floods and plenty of water three billion years ago. Twin mountains spotted by Pathfinder were islands in the past, according to NASA scientists.