Chinese rover reveals first data in 45 years of possible ancient flooding on Mars

Chinese scientists have released a new radar image from the Zhurong (red star) Mars rover, which reveals sediment that suggests there was flooding on the planet millions of years ago. 

Scientific Journal Nature published the image and research, which provides new insights into the surface structure of the Utopia Planitia basin, the largest recognized impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System with an estimated diameter of 3,300 kilometres. 

The world has not seen any new ground-based data from the Utopia impact crater on Mars for over 45 years, since the United States of America's Viking 2 rover mission of 1975. 

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Researcher Ling Chen and colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences presented the image, which was collected by the rover more than a kilometre from its original landing site.

The Zhurong rover discovered that the Utopia basin is segmented into multiple sub-surface layers approximately 70 metres thick in total.

Alternative models are being investigated, but research reveals that the layered structure may indicate that the basin experienced episodic flooding during the late Hesperian to Amazonian period. 

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The solar-powered rover, tasked to collect information on the climate conditions and magnetic fields of Mars, successfully landed in 2021 as part of China's first mission to the red planet. 

On the top surface of the basin lies a layer of regolith, a blanket of loose rock and dust less than 10 metres thick. 

This new image brings more evidence to the investigation of an ancient ocean on Mars, which is suggested to have dissolved into the rocks and crust of the planet over the years. 

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