New images taken by U.S. spacecraft from fissure-filled canyon on Mars give the strongest evidence that water did flow on the planet once upon a time.

Images take by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from Candor Chasma show presence of light colored areas on rocks, which could have been formed due to water. Scientists said that this region could be one of the best places to start searching for fossils of microbial life.

Chris Okubo, a geologist at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said that while it is difficult to say the exact period when water existed on the planet, the presence of fluids meant that biological activity might be possible. The new evidence is different from others as it shows that water must have existed on the planet for a long time for such chemical reactions to have taken place.

"It is hard to say how long ago the fluids were there, hundreds of millions, or perhaps a billion years ago. But the fact that we see evidence for chemical reactions between the fluids and the rock means that the fluids were sitting there for quite a long time, that's perhaps good if you want to look for any habitable areas that might support any biological activity", he said.

The discovery was first published in the journal "Science", while Okubo presented the data at the annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco on Thursday.

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