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A NASA rover finally found Mars’ missing carbon

The finding could help explain why Mars lost its habitable climate

An image taken by NASA's Curiosity rover shows a mountain, dunes and an ancient lakebed on Mars.

NASA’s Curiosity rover drilled into different rocks along an 89-meter stretch of terrain on its route up a mountain in an ancient lakebed. Samples from the rocks had carbon-bearing minerals that hint at a long lost carbon cycle and life-friendly climate.

NASA

By Lisa Grossman

The carbon that once warmed Mars’ atmosphere has been locked in its rusty rocks for millennia.