Mars Getting Better

The long-held belief that ancient Mars was an eternally cold and icy world may soon be shattered. The latest research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, puts forward a bold hypothesis: billions of years ago, the Red Planet experienced periods of heavy rain and snowfall, and its climate was much closer to Earth's than previously thought. The discovery overturns decades of scientific understanding and forces a new look at the history of Mars.