Could it be that there was never water on Mars?

i have always woundered if what we see as flow channels was in fact created by magma , like hot rivers of Lava. instead of water . im not to smart about such things . but why restrict are thinking that it had to of been water

If mars had liquid co2 the clay would be a different colour because of the fact its an identical colour as earth clay and earth has liquid water. Plus co2 absorbs warmth so it would be extra like Venus than the present mars like state

Water (in the form of ice) has been detected with spectroscopic and direct chemical tests (by landers) on Mars already. But I suppose you mean only liquid water, not ice. But minerals have been detected with spectroscopic and direct chemical tests (by landers) that are known to form only in the presence of liquid water. That is an indirect but pretty convincing argument that liquid water once existed on Mars.

There are MANY different independent lines of evidence that there was, and probably still is water on Mars. The evidence is overwhelming.

Do you know what water channels look like? There are none in those pictures.

No.

There is water on Mars. It has ice caps and permafrost.

There is still water, just look on the frozen ice caps. its possible there WAS water, but we're not sure.

Whatever your question, the answer is Jesus!