--- title: "NASA Mars Rover Appears to Have Found Remnants of Ancient Raging River" description: "NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has found what scientists suggest could be evidence of a raging, fast-moving river that once flowed on Mars." date: "2023-05-13" modified: "2023-05-13" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-rover-ancient-raging-river" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "mars" - "NASA" - "perseverance" - "the digest" --- # NASA Mars Rover Appears to Have Found Remnants of Ancient Raging River ![NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has found what scientists suggest could be evidence of a raging, fast-moving river that once flowed on Mars.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Red Water Rafting NASA's Mars Perseverance rover has found what [scientists suggest]() could be evidence of a raging, fast-moving river that flowed on the Martian surface billions of years ago. Before the loss of most of its atmosphere, early Mars [is believed to have been]() a watery world, featuring lakes and oceans. This new evidence, however, suggests that some of these waterways were far more ferocious than previously thought. The exciting new discovery could lead scientists to rethink what we know about the Red Planet's ancient environment. And most excitingly, it could even aid us in our efforts to probe the planet for signs of ancient life. ## High-Energy River While traversing the edge of the Jezero Crater, a suspected dried-up lake bed that Perseverance has been exploring for more than two years now, the rover discovered a "fan-shaped pile of sedimentary rock that stands 820 feet tall and features curving layers suggestive of flowing water," according to a [NASA statement](). That means some of the shallow streams scientists believe to have cut through the Martian surface billions of years ago may have been raging rivers instead. Massive panoramas stitched together from hundreds of images taken by Perseverance revealed new details, including grains and cobbles, that helped the scientists bolster their conclusion. "Those indicate a high-energy river that’s truckin’ and carrying a lot of debris," said Libby Ives, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in the statement. "The more powerful the flow of water, the more easily it’s able to move larger pieces of material." ## Anomalously Tall Needless to say, scientists are still left with plenty of questions. For one, we still don't know what such a river could have once looked like. It could be either a snakelike river like the Mississippi or a river that forms multiple channels that are separated by banks of sand. Some of these layers of different deposits spotted by Perseverance are also "anomalously tall for rivers on Earth," according to Ives, stretching up to 66 feet. "But at the same time, the most common way to create these kinds of landforms would be a river." The scientists are now hoping to continue studying Perseverance's images, and to scan the ground with the rover's radar instrument. "What’s exciting here is we’ve entered a new phase of Jezero’s history," said Perseverance’s deputy project scientist Katie Stack Morgan in the statement. "We’re thinking about rivers on a different scale than we have before," she added. **More on Perseverance:** *[NASA's Mars Rover Perseverance Just Dropped Off Its Last Sample]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()