Possible giant "karstic" caves that formed when slightly acidic water dissolved bedrock have been identified on Mars and hailed as one of the best locations on the Red Planet to search for preserved biosignatures.

"With the expected technological advances in the coming decades, if missions are specifically designed for these targets, we believe that in situ exploration of Martian karstic caves is an achievable goal," said Chunyu Ding, of the Institute for Advanced Study at Shenzhen University in China, in an interview with Space.com.

The caves, in the Hebrus Valles region between the extinct volcano Elysium Mons and Utopia Planitia in Mars' northern mid-latitudes, are revealed by eight skylights, which are holes in the ceiling of the caves that are visible on the surface as pits ranging

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