A recent series of discoveries is making scientists change their ideas about Mars: They now suspect that the Red Planet may be more Earth-like than previously imagined. New information suggests that Mars may have small bits of water spread around its surface.

The new information was uncovered by a car-sized robotic rover named Curiosity. Launched in 2011, the automated vehicle is equipped with sophisticated scientific instruments. In 2012, it landed in Gale Crater on the surface of Mars.

What has scientists excited is that Curiosity has found tiny traces of water. The water is in dust that seems to be covering the entire planet. This may explain mysterious water signals picked up by satellites in orbit around Mars.

The newly found water was spotted by one of Curiosity's fancy gadgets: the laser-shooting Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.

An Exciting Discovery About Water

Curiosity's ChemCam instrument was first used to study the soil in Gale Crater. It found that there are two major types of Martian soil: One is coarse, and probably came from surrounding rocks. The other is very fine.

The fine-grained soil doesn't really match the rocks around it. But it does seem to match the stuff found at places where other rovers have landed. That means it's probably spread over much or all of the planet. Most likely it is kicked up and carried far by Mars' fierce dust storms.

But the most surprising thing about this fine soil is that it turns out to have hydrogen in it. Water, of course, is two-thirds hydrogen.

"It's actually kind of exciting," said geologist John Grotzinger.

Pulled Out Of Thin Air?

Curiosity used another of its tools to cook up a tiny sample of soil in a little oven: It turned out that roughly 1.5 to 3 percent was made of water. The scientists think this water may have come from the atmosphere. In other words, it might have been pulled out of Mars' thin air.

Another study looked at the rock known as Jake M. This was named in memory of NASA engineer Jake Matijevic. Jake M is unlike any volcanic rock seen on Mars: It's rich in alkaline magma. This told scientists that it had been created under high pressure - and perhaps in water.

In fact, it looks something like a rock on Earth called mugearite. This is found on ocean islands and near underwater volcanos.

Mars, Grotzinger said, may once have been more like Earth than scientists had ever believed.]]>