It looked like just another dull piece of basalt, so much of which litters the Martian surface.
Dry channels on the Martian surface were first spied by Mariner 9 in 1971.
This example suggests that water was present 4-5km below the ancient Martian surface, the researchers said.
Dr Lefevre says that if the variations are confirmed it would mean the Martian surface is very hostile for organics.
The finding comes after Curiosity drilled into the Martian surface several weeks ago and recovered material from underneath the Martian surface.
FORBES: Curiosity Finds That Ancient Mars May Have Been Habitable
In its seven-minute descent, the Curiosity craft must brake from 13, 200 miles per hour to a gentle stop on the Martian surface.
One of the most important instruments was the Pancam, a high-resolution camera that would give the best views ever of the martian surface.
Now striking pictures suggesting the presence of liquid water on the Martian surface have scientists believing we are getting closer to finding out.
Recent pictures from it suggest that water might exist just below the surface and could still emerge on to the Martian surface as springs.
But if a rover on the Martian surface wants to send a file back to earth, this is an inefficient way of doing it.
ECONOMIST: An interplanetary Internet: The wire of the worlds | The
In 1877, Schiaperelli thought he saw streaks on the Martian surface, and referred to them in his publications as canali, the Italian word for channels.
These were formed when an asteroid or comet smacked into the lunar or Martian surface and threw out debris that fell into Earth's gravitational grasp.
Earlier this month, the Mars Curiosity rover drilled into the Martian surface, in the hopes of collecting a sample from the interior of a rock.
FORBES: Curiosity Confirms Rock Sample Found From Beneath Mars
Over the next few months and years, Curiosity will continue to other parts of the Martian surface to look for suitable areas where life might be located.
FORBES: Curiosity Finds That Ancient Mars May Have Been Habitable
After analysis of rock drilled from the Martian surface, scientists from NASA have announced that it shows that conditions from ancient Mars may have been suitable for life.
FORBES: Curiosity Finds That Ancient Mars May Have Been Habitable
The SAM instrument will be used to examine the samples for elements such as methane which may indicate that there was once life on the Martian surface.
But they stressed that at this stage they could not be sure where those "organics" had come from - possibly from the spacecraft itself or from meteorites showering the Martian surface.
Global Surveyor, which has mapped the whole Martian surface, some of it down to a resolution of 1.5 metres, has shown that those areologists who kept the faith were right.
In December, Dr Mumma's team will begin another study of the Martian surface using the new technique of adaptive optics at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile.
Opportunity, meanwhile, keeps on trucking across the Martian surface.
MSN: A stunning close-up of Mars taken by visiting NASA rover
Nasa spokesman Don Savage said they were not clear about what caused the Mars Polar Lander to disappear as it approached the Martian surface and rejected the earlier claims of a cover-up.
The centerpiece of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, the Curiosity rover comes packed with a slew of instruments to study not only today's Martian surface, but also the surface of the past.
MSN: Curiosity aims to unlock Mars mysteries - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News
And that case has been bolstered yet again, as scientists studying images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a satellite that takes pictures of the Martian surface from orbit using a variety of different tools.
The research, published online Thursday in the journal Science, offers a new perspective below the Martian surface and hints of past flooding at a time when the planet was mostly thought to be cold and desert-like.
The finding upends previous studies, which had estimated that the Red Planet's internal water stores were scanty at best something of a surprise, given that liquid water apparently flowed on the Martian surface long ago.
MSN: Scientists say parts of Mars interior are as wet as Earth's
"We want people to look through images of the Martian surface - it's a region that's never been explored in this detail before - no one has ever seen these images close up, so we don't know what would be there, " says Dr Lintott.
Also, imagers on board both the lander and the rover have sent back panoramic views of the Martian surface, including three-dimensional images unveiled at a press conference Friday -- during which scientists and reporters donned cheap, decidedly low-tech plastic glasses to get the full effect.
While it will probably take at least another 20 years before Zubrin -- or anyone else for that matter -- makes it to the Martian surface, NASA and other space agencies are already drawing up plans for a voyage that will present astronauts not only with physical but also psychological challenges never faced by humans before.
CNN: Mars on the brain? Red Planet pioneers to face cosmic mind trip
Known and studied since the 1970s beginning with NASA's Viking missions, such networks date from a period in Martian history when water flowed freely across the surface.
Measurements from orbit suggest that the martian permafrost is within half a metre of the surface.
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