(Photo from NASA Astrobiology Institute)From The BBC:
A Nasa space probe has discovered a new category of minerals spread across large regions of Mars.
The find suggests liquid water remained on Mars' surface a billion years later than scientists had previously thought.
The US Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) spacecraft found evidence of hydrated silica, better known as opal.
The discovery adds to the growing body of evidence that water played a crucial role in shaping the Martian landscape and - possibly - in sustaining life.
Hydrated, or water-containing, minerals are telltale signs of when and where water was present on ancient Mars.
Researchers made the discovery using the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) instrument on MRO.
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