For broader coverage of this topic, see Water on Mars.
View underneath the Phoenix lander, showing patchy exposures of a bright surface that may be ice.
In summer 1965, the first close-up images from Mars showed a cratered desert with no signs of water.[1][2][3] However, over the decades, as more parts of the planet were imaged with better cameras on more sophisticated satellites, Mars showed evidence of past river valleys, lakes and present ice in glaciers and in the ground.[4] It was discovered that the climate of Mars displays huge changes over geologic time because its axis is not stabilized by a large moon, as Earth's is.[5][6][7] Also, some researchers maintain that surface liquid water could have existed for periods of time due to geothermal effects, chemical composition or asteroid impacts.[8][9][10][11][12][13] This article describes some of the places that could have held large lakes.
^"Mariner 4: First Spacecraft to Mars". space.com. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
^"Blast from the past: Mariner 4's images of Mars | The Planetary Society". planetary.org. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
^Snyder, C., V. Moroz. 1992. Spacecraft exploration of Mars. In Kieffer, H., B. Jakosky, C. Snyder, M. Matthews, (eds). 1992. Mars. University of Arizona Press. Tucson.
^"What is the evidence for water on Mars?". astronomycafe.net. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
^Madeleine, J. et al. 2007. Mars: A proposed climatic scenario for northern mid-latitude glaciation. Lunar Planet. Sci. 38. Abstract 1778.
^Madeleine, J. et al. 2009. Amazonian northern mid-latitude glaciation on Mars: A proposed climate scenario. Icarus: 203. 300–405.
^Mischna, M.; et al. (2003). "On the orbital forcing of Martian water and CO2 cycles: A general circulation model study with simplified volatile schemes". J. Geophys. Res. 108 (E6): 5062. Bibcode:2003JGRE..108.5062M. doi:10.1029/2003je002051.
^Newsom, H. 2010. Heated Lakes on Mars. In Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier. NY.
^Fairén, A. G.; et al. (2009). "Stability against freezing of aqueous solutions on early Mars". Nature. 459 (7245): 401–404. Bibcode:2009Natur.459..401F. doi:10.1038/nature07978. PMID 19458717. S2CID 205216655.
^Abramov, O.; Kring, D. (2005). "Impact-induced hydrothermal activity on early Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research. 110 (E12): E12S09. Bibcode:2005JGRE..11012S09A. doi:10.1029/2005je002453. S2CID 20787765.
^Newsom, H (1980). "Hydrothermal alteration of impact melt sheets with implications for Mars". Icarus. 44 (1): 207–216. Bibcode:1980Icar...44..207N. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(80)90066-4.
^Newsom, H.; et al. (1996). "Impact crater lakes on Mars". J. Geophys. Res. 101 (E6): 14951–9144955. Bibcode:1996JGR...10114951N. doi:10.1029/96je01139.
^McKay, C.; Davis, W. (1991). "Duration of liquid water habitats on early Mars". Icarus. 90 (2): 214–221. Bibcode:1991Icar...90..214M. doi:10.1016/0019-1035(91)90102-y. PMID 11538097.
fraction of the current water ice stores onMars. Another study found 210 open-basin lakes. These were lakes with both an inlet and an outlet; hence water...
Water ice onMars likeliest areas (December 10, 2019) Mars – Utopia Planitia Almost all water onMars today exists as ice, though it also exists in small...
as clays. While lakes with salt concentrations 20 times that of the ocean pose challenges for life, potential subglacial lakesonMars are of high interest...
LakesonMars List of quadrangles onMars List of rocks onMars Magnetic field of MarsMars Geyser Hopper Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth...
rivers or lakes) that may have been habitable. The search for evidence of habitability, taphonomy (related to fossils), and organic carbon onMars is now...
seawater. Lakes vary significantly in surface area and volume. Lakes are typically larger and deeper than ponds, which are also water-filled basins on land...
The Mars Science Laboratory and its rover, Curiosity, were launched from Earth on 26 November 2011. As of May 6, 2024, Curiosity has been on the planet...
based on MARSIS radar studies, of a three more subglacial lakesonMars, 1.5 km (0.93 mi) below the southern polar ice cap. The size of the first lake found...
terraforming the planet. Currently, only robotic landers and rovers have been onMars. The farthest humans have been beyond Earth is the Moon, under the NASA's...
lakes at upper left. Atmosphere of Titan – Thick atmospheric layers of Saturn's moon Titan LakesonMars – Overview of the presence of lakesonMars List...
Valles into Chryse Planitia. Solar System portal Geography of MarsLakesonMars Vallis Mars carbonate catastrophe "Valles Marineris". Dictionary.com Unabridged...
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. The surface of Mars is orange-red because it is covered in iron(III) oxide dust, giving it the nickname "the Red...
ancient lakesonMars, and undertakes high-altitude scientific expeditions in the Central Andes of Chile as the principal investigator of the "High Lakes Project"...
MarsLake (also called Lake Sequilla or Sequilla Lake) is a small spring-fed rural lake in Oneida County in northern Wisconsin in the United States, near...
Colonization or settlement of Mars is the theoretical migration of humans to Mars and the establishment of long-term human presence on the planet. The prospect...
The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined cargo transport flying boat designed and built by the Martin Company for the United States Navy during World...
or evaporate depending on season and location (See Water onMars). Reconciling the geologic evidence of river valleys and lakes with computer climate models...
Sol (borrowed from the Latin word for sun) is a solar day onMars; that is, a Mars-day. A sol is the apparent interval between two successive returns of...
"canals" on the planet Mars. These were a network of long straight lines in the equatorial regions from 60° north to 60° south latitude onMars, observed...
could have made Mars more Earth-like in the past. Mars may have once had a much thicker and warmer atmosphere, and oceans or lakes may have been present...
The planet Mars has two permanent polar ice caps. During a pole's winter, it lies in continuous darkness, chilling the surface and causing the deposition...
Eridania Lake is a theorized ancient lakeonMars with a surface area of roughly 1.1 million square kilometers. It is located at the source of the Ma'adim...
proposed for the planet Mars. The most commonly seen in the scientific literature denotes the time of year as the number of degrees on its orbit from the northward...
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