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Water on Mars. Image 2 of 2. Computer artwork of water flowing east (towards top) along Eos Chasma canyon on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. Ice (white) lies on the surrounding land, several kilometres above the canyon floor. Mars is now a desert world, as the water was ultimately lost due to the thin Martian atmosphere and weak gravity. The image is hundreds of kilometres across. Eos Chasma is an eastern canyon of Valles Marineris (Mariner Valley), an enormous crack in the Martian crust near the equator. The topography was drawn with Terragen software, using data from the laser altimeter on the Mars Global Surveyor probe. For this area today, see image R350/167. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/KEES VEENENBOS)