![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/A6PBRP2EZBW2J5OO74GJGF6QBQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=0f12ef2f31d0b860bf240f04af09bf25403356a9281bf029bfd88dccc8048cb6&width=400&height=225)
UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YOH7OTVCCNEBDGPUBS3SP7H5FQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=4e4f8d5ee23598f9ed05727d48dbbcfa3f7b5b78b054ddf86a23b946ec59fb63&width=400&height=225)
A new study suggests that conditions on Mars nearly 4 billion years ago may have made ancient life there more likely.
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/MNWDOHOHUMNJYR4LKA7VSFW73U.jpg?smart=true&auth=0d7b384f11ab4c7ef619b5d8be1796626a0e4812147115c548865e2d9a173b21&width=400&height=225)
The surface of Mars. NASA
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/BHX4YYK5TJMUERIH4GUGIGTGYQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=3ee7197a93ef318bcc2f13255c01612c839e5cfb6c73cf5103d7729a2b59aac4&width=400&height=225)
Collage showing Mars’s Maumee valleys (top half) superimposed with channels on Devon Island in Nunavut (bottom half) The share of the channels, as well as the overall network appears almost identical. Courtesy Cal-Tech CTX mosaic and MAXAR/Esri
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/OJUK5Q7RXGE4DSPPRDVLHCSNFI.jpg?smart=true&auth=48d47d142ff8857d0c639676bf345c7d5eccc47b12c6914c72158b761817f959&width=400&height=225)
Co-author Mark Jellinek of UBC looking towards the Devon ice cap, standing on rocks that are more than a million years old. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/A6PBRP2EZBW2J5OO74GJGF6QBQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=0f12ef2f31d0b860bf240f04af09bf25403356a9281bf029bfd88dccc8048cb6&width=400&height=225)
UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/YOH7OTVCCNEBDGPUBS3SP7H5FQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=4e4f8d5ee23598f9ed05727d48dbbcfa3f7b5b78b054ddf86a23b946ec59fb63&width=400&height=225)
A new study suggests that conditions on Mars nearly 4 billion years ago may have made ancient life there more likely.
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/MNWDOHOHUMNJYR4LKA7VSFW73U.jpg?smart=true&auth=0d7b384f11ab4c7ef619b5d8be1796626a0e4812147115c548865e2d9a173b21&width=400&height=225)
The surface of Mars. NASA
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/BHX4YYK5TJMUERIH4GUGIGTGYQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=3ee7197a93ef318bcc2f13255c01612c839e5cfb6c73cf5103d7729a2b59aac4&width=400&height=225)
Collage showing Mars’s Maumee valleys (top half) superimposed with channels on Devon Island in Nunavut (bottom half) The share of the channels, as well as the overall network appears almost identical. Courtesy Cal-Tech CTX mosaic and MAXAR/Esri
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/OJUK5Q7RXGE4DSPPRDVLHCSNFI.jpg?smart=true&auth=48d47d142ff8857d0c639676bf345c7d5eccc47b12c6914c72158b761817f959&width=400&height=225)
Co-author Mark Jellinek of UBC looking towards the Devon ice cap, standing on rocks that are more than a million years old. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre
![](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/A6PBRP2EZBW2J5OO74GJGF6QBQ.jpg?smart=true&auth=0f12ef2f31d0b860bf240f04af09bf25403356a9281bf029bfd88dccc8048cb6&width=400&height=225)
UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre
Mars big and bright enough to see without a telescope as it aligns with Earth
In the early hours of Wednesday, the planets will be in opposition as Mars and the Sun line up, with Earth in the middle
![Gillian Duncan](https://thenational-the-national-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Farc-authors%2Fthenational%2F736ebb26-e270-44c5-96a2-80452d783888.png?smart=true&auth=6b2c4dc0614f332daaa4e848c41f090496fd16da3ccccaa940132372e6a74710&width=70&height=70)
Gillian Duncan
12 October, 2020
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