A collection of rocks scattered on an ancient shoreline on Mars might indicate that the Red Planet was once far more Earth-like than scientists previously thought.
The rocks, discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover, are unusually rich in manganese oxide — a chemical that adds to growing evidence that the once-habitable Mars may have sported Earth-like oxygen levels and life-friendly conditions early in its history, scientists say.
NASA calls manganese on Earth “an unsung hero in the evolution of life.” Scientists know from our planet’s geological history that manganese was abundant in rocks and in the oceans before the earliest life-forms emerged roughly 4 billion years ago and that it paved the way for oxygen that most life now relies on.
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