A major goal for the Mars Curiosity rover missions is to look for signs of life like water. Years after landing at the red planet, the rover reached a mineral rich area, suspected to be a giant body of water earlier, called Gale crater. These pictures, along with other data, are helping scientist on Earth gather clues about life on the planet. Shown here, a view stitched together from 28 images. In the distance at the top of the image is the floor of Gale Crater. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSCuriosity used its Mast Camera, or Mastcam, to capture this panorama of a hill adjacent sand ridges on August 23, 2022. There has long been debate in the scientific community about whether Mars had an ocean in its low-elevation northern hemisphere. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSA team led by researchers from Pennsylvania State University, United States, was able to show definitive evidence of a roughly 3.5-billion-year-old shoreline with substantial sedimentary accumulation, at least 900 meters thick, that covered hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. They used topography data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter. Credit: Benjamin Cardenas / Penn StateScientists hypothesise that billions of years ago, streams and ponds left behind the minerals as the water dried up. Assuming the hypothesis is correct, these minerals offer tantalizing clues as to how — and why — the planet’s climate changed from being more Earth-like to the frozen desert it is today. Shown here, a panaroma view from Curiosity's Mastcam. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSBenjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geosciences at Penn State and lead author of the research, said the finding tells us about the ancient climate and its evolution. The maps offer the strongest case yet that the planet once experienced sea-level rise consistent with an extended warm and wet climate. Shown here is successful drill hole on Mount Sharp, a central peak on the Gale Crater. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS