Curiosity Finds Evidence of Persistent Liquid Water in the Past. Just after landing, Curiosity found smooth, rounded pebbles that likely rolled downstream for at least a few miles in a river that was ankle- to hip-deep. Rivers and lakes persisted in Gale crater for perhaps a million years or longer.

Water on Mars May Be Trapped in the Planet’s Crust, Not Lost to Space. Mars had water—until it didn’t. Scientists thinks that about four billion years ago, the planet had substantial amounts of liquid water on its surface, enough to form rivers, lakes, seas, and even oceans—and perhaps also to support life.

On Jan. 6, 2005, the Opportunity rover found a basketball-size meteorite on Mars — the first meteorite ever discovered on another planet. Opportunity’s spectrometers scoped out the space rock and determined that it’s mostly made of iron and nickel.

The rover’s primary objective is to search for signs of past life and gather rock samples for return to Earth by future spacecraft in development by NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA says it spent more than $2.4 billion to design, build and prepare the Mars 2020 mission for launch.

NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA /ˈnæsə/) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.

Mankind has been studying Jupiter for more than 400 years. But we’ve only been sending spacecraft there since the 1970s! Nine spacecraft have visited Jupiter since 1973, and they’ve discovered a lot about the planet.

Two of the world’s most famous diamonds may have originated super deep below Earth’s surface, near the planet’s core. The “Hope” diamond, a large and famous stone, as well as the “Cullinan” diamond, the largest rough gemstone ever found, are different. They’re “super deep” stones, new research confirms.

200 km

Most natural diamonds have ages between 1 billion and 3.5 billion years. Most were formed at depths between 150 and 250 kilometres (93 and 155 mi) in the Earth’s mantle, although a few have come from as deep as 800 kilometres (500 mi).

Diamonds are present in about 35 countries. South Africa, Russia and Botswana are the main producers of gem diamond while Australia produces most of the industrial diamond. They are also found in India, Russia, Siberia, Brazil, China, Canada and the United States.