NASA has released a video explaining why it thinks ancient Mars was similar to Earth.

The US space agency's Dr. Becky McCauley Rench explains why she thinks Mars was once much "wetter and warmer".

The Nasa scientist starts the video by stating: "Whenever the Solar System first formed over four billion years ago, Mars and Earth formed out of the same stuff and so they looked very similar.

"While today, whenever we look at Mars we see a very dry planet as compared to the Earth, which is you know our blue marble, we see evidence of past lakes and streams.

"It may have even had a shallow northern ocean.

"However, they diverged and we have two very different planets today."

The Nasa videos contains mockup images of what water could have looked like on Mars and compares the idea to the dry planet we know today.

The similarities between the two planets are important to scientists because they could help them look for signs of ancient life on Mars.

Dr McCauley Rench continued: "As the Earth progressed with plate tectonics and the development of life.

"Mars' geological activity subsided, lost that water and it became a much drier planet.

"That's part of why it's so fascinating to study Mars and that helps us understand more about Mars' past and future, as well as understanding Earth and planetary evolution, both in our Solar System and beyond."

So, Nasa concludes that Mars did once look like Earth but that was likely to have been billions of years ago.

Some water still exists on the surface of Mars but today in ice form.

There's also thought to me more water underneath the surface and scientists continue to investigate this.

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