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Scientists from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have uncovered new evidence that water once flowed beneath the surface of Mars, revealing that the planet may have remained habitable for life much longer than previously thought.

The study, in the Journal of Geophysical Research鈥擯lanets, shows that ancient sand dunes in Gale Crater, a region explored by NASA's Curiosity rover, gradually turned into rock after interacting with underground water billions of years ago.

Led by Dimitra Atri, Principal Investigator of NYUAD's Space Exploration Laboratory, with research assistant Vignesh Krishnamoorthy, the research team compared data from the Curiosity rover with rock formations in the UAE desert that formed under similar conditions on Earth.

They found that water from a nearby Martian mountain once seeped into the dunes through tiny cracks, soaking the sand from below and leaving behind minerals such as gypsum, the same mineral found in Earth's deserts. These minerals can trap and preserve traces of organic material, making them valuable targets for future missions seeking evidence of past life.

"Our findings show that Mars didn't simply go from wet to dry," said Atri. "Even after its lakes and rivers disappeared, small amounts of water continued to move underground, creating protected environments that could have supported microscopic life."

The discovery provides new insight into how Mars evolved over time and highlights the potential of subsurface environments as promising sites to search for signs of ancient life.