Rocks scrutinized by the Curiosity rover in an ancient, long-dried lakebed on Mars have revealed conditions likely to have been habitable, billions of years ago. There, in rocks on the Gale Crater, Curiosity has found a surprising amount of manganese oxide – a mineral that is commonly found in lakes on Earth due to the highly oxidating conditions therein,

Manganese was found in an ancient Mars lakebed, suggesting that the environment could have been highly useful to lifeforms.

The research team looked at what oxidant could be responsible for the precipitation of manganese in the rocks on Mars.

The results suggest that the sediments were formed in a river, delta, or near the shoreline of an ancient, habitable lake on ancient Mars.

The study of Martian rocks by NASA’s Curiosity rover suggests that ancient Mars might have had conditions suitable for life. Within the dried-up remains of Gale Crater’s lakebed, Curiosity uncovered manganese oxide,

A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that th