An article published in the journal “Nature Geoscience” reports the results of an analysis of data collected by the Mars Rover Curiosity in a section of sedimentary rocks of Gale Crater on Mars called Sutton Island where salt was detected in the form of mineral salt in the sediments. A team of researchers led by William Rapin of Caltech interpreted that presence as evidence that about 3.5 billion years ago there were salty ponds that went through episodes of overflow and drying. The deposits show the history of climatic fluctuations in the period in which the Martian environment passed from wet and similar to the Earth to today’s dry desert.

NASA has provided an update of its Mars Rover Curiosity’s activities in what was called a clay-bearing unit of ​​Mount Sharp on Mars. Clay is associated with water, so the goal of current research is to offer new information to reconstruct the history of Mars, in this case of Gale Crater, where in ancient times there was a lake and now there’s Mount Sharp. Lately, Curiosity has been working near an outcrop that was named “Teal Ridge” and near a rock that was named “Strathdon”, formed by dozens of sedimentary layers that suggest a more dynamic environment than other typical lake sediments.

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity has detected the presence of methane on Mars. The agency hasn’t officially announced the event yet but the New York Times published the information obtained. The detection happened on Wednesday, June 19, and was received by NASA the next day. On Friday, Curiosity mission’s scientists discussed the news reorganizing the weekend activities to carry out a follow-up experiment. There’s no evidence that it was produced by biological processes but methane detections on Mars are always of great interest to scientists.