Mars Rover Finds Signs of Ancient Freshwater Lake

If life ever existed on the red planet, it might have been there

NASA's Curiosity rover has uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars, which scientists say could have been a perfect spot for tiny primitive organisms to flourish if they ever existed on the red planet.

The watering hole near the Martian equator existed about 3.5 billion years ago around the time when life evolved on Earth. Scientists say the Martian lake was neither salty nor acidic, and contained life-friendly nutrients.

"This just looks like a pretty darn ordinary Earth-like lake in terms of its chemistry," said project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology. "If you were desperate, you could have a drink of this stuff."