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Discovery: A Trip Around Mars - Part Two

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Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars

29/04/2013 GMT

A Trip Around Mars - Part Two

BBC World Service - Discovery, A Trip Around Mars - Part TwoSearch BBC

Canyons, craters and mountains: The spectacular Martian terrain carved by swathes of water

Mountains straight out of Tolkien, catastrophic floods and streams gushing with  boiling and freezing water. Kevin Fong continues his tour of Martian landscapes, present and past.

Kevin Fong concludes his grand tour of the planet Mars, in search of water. Some of the most spectacular Martian landscapes were carved by vast and violent quantities of water in the planet’s past. The Tolkienesque terrain of Iani Chaos is one such place as is the great canyon Ares Valles. 

Kevin also talks to scientists on the current Curiosity Mars rover mission about water in the deep history of Gale Crater and its central mountain Mount Sharp. The journey concludes with gullies on cliffs and craters, suggesting that water still gushes on the surface of Mars today.  Could this mean that life exists on the Red Planet today?

(Image: Mars Express spacecraft in orbit around Mars 
Copyright: ESA- Illustration by Medialab)

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