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NASA video says this is how Mars might once have looked
NASA has taken data from recent explorations of Mars and turned it into a cool animation showing how Mars might have evolved over the last 4 billion years. The simulation starts by flying over a beautiful, Earth-like planet with huge lakes as the planet slowly becomes today’s barren, red landscape.
This is an artist’s concept of an ancient, habitable Mars capable of supporting liquid water on its surface.
Michael Lentz/NASA Goddard Conceptual Image Lab
Scientists, studying data from unmanned missions to Mars, believe the planet had a thick atmosphere and even oceans several billion years ago. Now NASA is letting you see what a young Mars might have looked like.
The video was made to promote the upcoming launch of NASA's next Mars craft, MAVEN, scheduled for lift off from Cape Canaveral on Monday. MAVEN will be studying Mars’ atmosphere for clues to the planet’s past climate.