If Mars were ever home to microbial life, Gale Crater would be a good spot to check first, according to a study appearing in Science last week.
An international team of researchers examined the chemical make-up of sediment from the crater, which was the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover, and up the crater's slope to Mount Sharp to reconstruct the area's past habitat. Gale Crater was once the site of a series of lakes, the Los Angeles Times notes.
From the samples Curiosity collected, the team found that the upper rock layers contained oxidizing agents, while the deeper layer had more reducing agents. The researchers also noted differences in the size of the rock grains. This suggested to them that the Martian climate changed, and that the planet once had the needed conditions for a habitable environment.
Lead author Joel Hurowitz from Stony Brook University tells the LA Times that this lake could've been around for hundreds of thousands of years to 10 million years and could've been home to various microorganisms.
Curiosity isn't equipped to tell if there's life there, the LA Times notes, adding that that might be part of future missions. We say, 'Send a sequencer!"