Oxford team using NASA InSight data finds Martian magma highways
Turns out, Mars may have been a lot more active than we thought.
Scientists from the University of Oxford, using data from NASA's InSight lander, discovered evidence of massive rivers of molten rock flowing beneath the planet's surface long ago.
They found a boundary about 24km deep that points to huge pools of spreading magma: basically, Mars had its own underground lava highways.
Study suggests habitability without plate tectonics
This discovery shows that Mars's volcanic system was much more connected and complex than anyone expected.
That means the planet could recycle elements and create conditions for an atmosphere or even oceans, all without plate tectonics, like Earth has.
It also suggests rocky planets don't need moving plates to be habitable, so there could be more life-friendly worlds out there than we realized.