There might\u2019ve been life on Mars after all.<\/p>\n
Although it resembles a coral typically found at the bottom of the ocean, it was a piece of rock that a NASA spacecraft \u2014 Curiosity rover \u2014 recently discovered on Mars<\/a> that was supposedly formed a billion years ago.<\/p>\n The NASA spacecraft \u2014 Curiosity rover \u2014 has captured images that indicated life has existed on Mars. Nasa<\/p>\n The small, approximately 1-inch-wide (2.5 centimeters) light colored, wind-eroded rock, as described by Live Science<\/a>, was found in the Gale Crater, which is\u00a0a large impact basin on Mars.<\/p>\n A colorless image taken by a telescopic camera captured the familiar-looking object. Although this discovery is an exciting one \u2014 it isn\u2019t the first of its kind to be found. <\/p>\n The black and white images the telescopic camera, also known as the Curiosity\u2019s Remote Micro Imager, has captured. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/LANL\/CNES\/CNRS\/IRAP\/IAS\/LPG<\/p>\n That same camera, also known as the Curiosity\u2019s Remote Micro Imager, has reportedly captured similar-looking objects in the past, signifying that the planet had a watery past. <\/p>\n This is because these objects formed \u201cbillions of years ago when liquid water still existed on the Red Planet. Water carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks and later dried, leaving the hardened minerals behind,\u201d as explained by NASA in a recent statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThis common process, seen extensively on Earth, has produced fantastic shapes on Mars, including\u00a0a flower-shaped rock<\/a>,\u201d the statement continued. <\/p>\n The coral-like rock indicates that Mars had a watery past because \u201cWater carried dissolved minerals into rock cracks and later dried, leaving the hardened minerals behind,\u201d NASA said. NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/MSSS<\/p>\n These discoveries give hope that there might\u2019ve been life on Mars after all. <\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Curiosity has been busy this summer. Back in June, it captured images of a geological structure \u2014 which have been nicknamed \u201cspiderwebs\u201d <\/a>due to their insect-like pattern of ridges.<\/p>\n Similarly to the coral rock, these \u201cspiderwebs\u201d also indicate that Mars once had water on it that hardered. <\/p>\n \u201cThe images and data being collected are already raising new questions about how the Martian surface was changing billions of years ago,\u201d\u00a0NASA said in a previous statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n