Rivers may have recently flowed on Mars!

More space news, this time further out into the solar system: the two Mars rovers are still trucking along, but scientists here on Earth are working on a thorny problem related to the red planet. New research suggests that water may have flowed over Mars' surface in at least one place over the past billion years--relatively "recently," since the planet has been around for about the same 4.5 billion years as our own--giving more credence to the idea that life may have once existed there, according to ScienceNOW. A while back, the rovers confirmed that water covered the surface of Mars about four billion years ago, when it was much warmer. But now that the planet is cooler and drier, we've only found small bits of evidence here and there. That's beginning to change, though. Using high-resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a group of planetary geologists led by Jay Dickson of Brown University zoomed in on the eastern half of a 7000-meter-deep crater and discovered about "20 winding valleys and a number of deposited materials typically found at the end of rivers," according to the report. By counting the impact craters nearby, the geologists determined that the surface there is about one billion years old, and that those valleys must have formed around that time. Due to the glaciers buried underneath, this could prove to be a good place to search for life with a later Mars mission, the report said.

Source

I just found this on Digg. I don't know if you have seen this yet or not, but it doesn't surprise me in the least bit. The more I research into this, the more I think that life has been or is on Mars and the Moon.

(Also, I hope I posted this correctly and nobody beat me too it! Sorry if I'm wrong!)

[edit on 5/19/2009 by xBRINGxONx2012x]

Good post I think that this is interesting. I have seen that photo before. Im suprised that these river like impressions were not found earlier. Im sure a person could see something that looks like a river in a non high def image.

Since they're talking about rivers flowing sometime in the past BILLION years, I don't think I'll be hauling out my old fishin' rod anytime soon.

Originally posted by Nohup
Since they're talking about rivers flowing sometime in the past BILLION years, I don't think I'll be hauling out my old fishin' rod anytime soon.

Understandable...but if there used to be streams and rivers, that means Mars used to look quite similar to earth...and if that is the case, the chance of life (back then) is probably EXTREMELY good!

[edit on 5/20/2009 by xBRINGxONx2012x]