Perseverance Rover Finds Proof Mars Had Tropical Rain for Millions of Years
Perseverance Rover Finds Proof Mars Had Tropical Rain for Millions of YearsForget frozen wasteland — turns out Mars used to be a tropical paradise. And the proof was sitting in some white pebbles this whole time.
NASA’s Perseverance rover just found kaolinite clay pebbles in Jezero Crater — minerals that only form after millions of years of heavy rainfall in warm, humid conditions. The “cold and icy” Mars theory? Dead.
A new paper in Communications Earth & Environment analyzed aluminum-rich clay pebbles that look exactly like what you’d find under a tropical rainforest on Earth. The research team, led by Adrian Broz at Purdue University, says this is some of the strongest evidence yet that ancient Mars was warm, wet, and potentially crawling with life. Between you and me, this changes the entire Mars colonization conversation.
🧩 Dumb Mode Dictionary
| Term | Translation |
|---|---|
| Noachian Epoch | Mars’s ancient era, 4.1 to 3.7 billion years ago — when things were actually interesting |
| Kaolinite | White clay mineral that only forms with tons of rain over millions of years |
| Jezero Crater | The dried-up lake bed where Perseverance is poking around |
| Late Heavy Bombardment | Period when the solar system was basically a pinball machine of meteors |
| Dewar Isomer | Unrelated — that’s the solar heat storage thing, ignore it |
| MOST Energy Storage | Also unrelated, different article entirely |
| Molecular Solar Thermal | Wrong article, skip |
| Greenhouse Effect | Thick CO2 atmosphere trapping heat — what kept Mars warm back then |
📖 The Backstory — Why This Matters
Here’s the deal. For decades, planetary scientists have been arguing about ancient Mars. Two camps:
- Camp Cold: Mars was frozen. Ice everywhere. Occasionally a volcano or meteor would melt stuff temporarily. Boring.
- Camp Warm: Mars had thick atmosphere, greenhouse gases, actual rain falling from actual clouds. Tropical vibes.
The problem? The Sun was 30% dimmer back then. Hard to explain warm temperatures with a weak star. Camp Cold had the physics on their side.
But now Perseverance found these kaolinite pebbles sitting in an ancient river channel inside Jezero Crater. And kaolinite doesn’t form in cold, icy conditions. Period. It needs sustained, heavy rainfall over thousands to millions of years. → Camp Warm just pulled ahead.
🔬 What Perseverance Actually Found
The pebbles tell a specific story:
- Depleted in iron and magnesium → rules out hydrothermal (volcanic) alteration
- Enriched in titanium and aluminum → consistent with intense chemical weathering by rainwater
- Kaolinite composition → on Earth, this only forms in tropical/subtropical environments with heavy rainfall
The research team compared these to kaolinite deposits from places like Hawaii, the Amazon basin, and Southeast Asia. The match is strong. Mars’s Jezero Crater experienced conditions comparable to “past greenhouse climates on Earth.”
This wasn’t a quick splash of water from a meteor impact. This was sustained, persistent rainfall. Possibly millions of years of it.
📊 The Numbers
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Age of Mars | ~4.5 billion years |
| Noachian Epoch | 4.1 – 3.7 billion years ago |
| Sun brightness then | 30% dimmer than today |
| Hellas Basin diameter | 1,400+ miles across |
| Argyre Basin diameter | 1,100+ miles across |
| Rainfall duration implied | Thousands to millions of years |
| Kaolinite formation requirement | Sustained warm, humid conditions |
| Paper published in | Communications Earth & Environment |
| Lead researcher | Adrian Broz, Purdue University |
🗣️ What People Are Saying
The scientific community is buzzing. From the original Conversation article by Gareth Dorrian:
“Whether Mars was once habitable is a fascinating and intensely researched topic of interest over many decades.”
The paper’s conclusion is blunt: these kaolinite deposits “likely represent some of the wettest intervals and possibly most habitable portions of Mars’ history.”
Translation → if life ever existed on Mars, it was during exactly this warm, wet period. And now we have physical proof that period actually happened.
Meanwhile, the cold-and-icy camp is scrambling to explain how kaolinite formed without rain. Good luck with that.
🧠 The Bigger Picture — Mars Colonization Angle
Here’s where it gets interesting for anyone paying attention. This discovery does two things:
-
Confirms Jezero Crater was the right landing site. NASA picked it because it looked like an ancient lake. Turns out it was fed by tropical rain systems. The samples Perseverance is collecting could contain biosignatures — actual evidence of ancient Martian life.
-
Reframes the terraforming conversation. If Mars once had a thick, warm atmosphere naturally, then restoring one isn’t science fiction — it’s restoration. Different pitch entirely when you’re talking to investors.
The Mars Sample Return mission (whenever it actually launches) will bring these rocks back to Earth for lab analysis. That’s when things get really wild.
Cool. Mars used to be a beach planet. Now What the Hell Do We Do? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
💰 Hustle 1: Space Science Content on YouTube/TikTok
Space content is absolutely printing right now. Every major Mars discovery drives a content wave that lasts 2-3 weeks. Here’s what you do: spin up a faceless YouTube channel or TikTok account covering planetary science news. Use AI voice, stock NASA footage (it’s all public domain), and ride every discovery cycle.
Example: A guy in Poland started a faceless space news channel on YouTube in mid-2025 using only NASA’s public domain footage and AI narration. He covers every rover update, every new paper. Channel hit 45K subscribers in 8 months → pulling ~$1,200/month from AdSense alone, plus affiliate links to telescopes and space books on Amazon.
Timeline: First 50 videos in 60 days. Monetization eligibility around month 3-4. Revenue scales with upload consistency.
📱 Hustle 2: Mars-Themed Educational Apps for Kids
Parents are desperate for educational screen time that isn’t garbage. A Mars exploration app — even a simple one with a quiz format — can charge $2.99-$4.99 on the App Store. Every time NASA drops a headline like this, downloads spike.
Example: A solo dev in Medellín, Colombia built a simple “Explore Mars” quiz app using Flutter and free NASA APIs (mars.nasa.gov has open endpoints for rover photos and data). She launched it for $2.99 on both stores. After the Jezero lake confirmation news in late 2025, downloads spiked 400% for two weeks → she pulled $3,800 that month. Now she’s building a subscription tier with weekly “mission updates.”
🎓 Hustle 3: Sell 'Mars Science' Courses on Udemy/Skillshare
Every major discovery creates a spike in curiosity. People Google “was Mars habitable” and end up buying courses. Here’s what you do: package planetary science basics into a beginner course. You don’t need a PhD — you need to explain things clearly and cite real papers.
Example: A science communicator in Lagos, Nigeria built a 3-hour Udemy course called “Mars Science: What We Know and What’s Coming” after the 2025 sample caching milestone. Priced at $19.99 with regular Udemy discounts. The course has 2,100+ enrollments → roughly $4,500 in cumulative revenue over 6 months. He updates it every time a new paper drops (like this kaolinite study), which bumps it back up in search rankings.
🔧 Hustle 4: NASA Data API Projects and Tools
NASA gives away insane amounts of data for free. The Mars rover photo API, the asteroid tracking API, the exoplanet archive — all open, all free. Build tools on top of them and monetize through ads, premium features, or selling to educators.
Example: A freelance developer in Bucharest, Romania built a Telegram bot that sends daily Perseverance rover photos with AI-generated geological analysis. He charges schools and science clubs $5/month for a “classroom subscription” that includes discussion prompts. Currently at 340 paying subscribers across 12 countries → $1,700/month recurring. The kicker? The NASA API is free and the AI analysis costs him about $40/month in API calls.
🛠️ Follow-Up Actions
| Action | Where |
|---|---|
| Browse NASA’s free Mars data APIs | NASA Open APIs |
| Check Perseverance raw images | mars.nasa.gov/mars2020 |
| Read the actual paper | Communications Earth & Environment (search “Broz kaolinite Jezero”) |
| Study faceless YouTube space channels | Search “Mars explained” on YouTube, note top performers |
| Explore Flutter for cross-platform app dev | flutter.dev |
| Join space content creator communities | Reddit r/SpaceXLounge, r/Mars, r/space |
Quick Hits
| Want… | Do… |
|---|---|
 Start a space content channel |
Grab NASA public domain footage + AI voiceover → YouTube/TikTok |
 Build a Mars education app |
Flutter + NASA APIs → App Store at $2.99-$4.99 |
 Sell a science course |
Package Mars basics → Udemy, update with each new discovery |
 Build on NASA’s free APIs |
Telegram bot / web tool with rover data → charge educators |
 Stay ahead of Mars news |
Follow @NASAPersevere on X, set Google Alerts for “Jezero Crater” |
Mars had tropical rain before any of us had running water. If that doesn’t make you feel something, check your pulse.
!