The uplands are roughly textured, while the flat plains appear smoother. The image shows that the contact between the two regions is clearly not a wave-cut cliff, nor are there any features that can be unambiguously identified as coastal landforms, according to Malin. However, it should be understood that there is significant other evidence of water on Mars in the past, both from Mars Global Surveyor and from previous missions. Researchers have widely suspected that Mars was warm and wet about 3.7 billion years ago. Mars cooled and the water froze, the thinking goes.
Remnants exist as ice caps at the poles.
Scientists say the deposits may provide clues to the planet's water-rich background. The Mars Lander , launched in January, is set to reach the Red Planet in December 1999. It will use a robotic arm to study the soil composition, searching for near-surface ice and evidence of seasonal cycles of water, carbon dioxide and dust. Two small microprobes will piggyback on the lander and penetrate into the Martian soil to look for water ice. All space news .