The Mars rover unmanned mission has discovered unique mud formations stereotypical of wet and dry spells over millions of years on the otherwise dry and cold Mars landscape which may have created the conditions necessary for life, according to a recent study titled ‘Sustained wet-dry cycling on early Mars’ was released in the peer-reviewed journal Nature on August 9, 2023.
The hexagonal patterns discovered are formed when an area has extended wet seasons followed by extended dry ones.
It has been known for a while that Mars contains the dried vestiges of rivers, lakes, and even seas as the study noted, “The presence of perennially wet surface environments on early Mars is well documented”.