Mars water lasted for aeons

Mars may be dry and dusty today, but it once had a watery climate that lasted for much of its history, according to a UK science journal.

Mars may be cold, dry and dusty today, but it once had a watery climate that lasted for much of its history, according to a study published in the British science journal 'Nature'.

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The research compared images sent back by US Rover Opportunity from the plain of Terra Meridiani with thermal spectrometer scans made by a NASA orbiter, Mars Odyssey.

Both missions found visual evidence of grey haematite, a mineral containing iron ore which, on Earth, is only formed by prolonged contact with liquid water.

Putting the pictures together, Brian Hynek of the University of Colorado at Boulder suggests the plain was once a vast sea, almost as big as the Baltic.