**Mars Rover Discovers Manganese-Rich Sandstones Hinting at Ancient Habitability on Mars**
Gale Crater, located on Mars, has offered new insights into the planet’s past conditions that may have supported microbial life. NASA’s Curiosity rover, equipped with the ChemCam instrument, recently discovered manganese-rich sandstones in the lakebed rocks of the crater, indicating a potentially habitable environment in Mars’ ancient history. These findings were published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets on May 1. Researchers, led by Patrick Gasda of Los Alamos National Laboratory, were surprised by …