“Today we are revolutionizing our understanding of this planet”, Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters, said during a news conference releasing the findings.
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“That’s a direct detection of water in the form of hydration of salts”, said University of Arizona Professor of Planetary Geology Alfred S. McEwen, one of the three scientists who authored the study.
“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water, ‘ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected”, said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. He thought that the lines were water, and he happened to have been right. The hydrated minerals indicate the water there is briny and the salts allow it to stay liquid in colder temperatures than would otherwise be possible.
The MRO has been examining the Red Planet since 2006.
The dark streaks, some of which reach over 100 meters long, were first noticed in 2010. Now we know there are no canals on the red planet, and no life capable of building them either.
Own The ConversationAsk The Big Question: If there was once a lot more water on Mars, does that mean there was a lot more life?
Scientists analysing data from a NASA spacecraft have found that water flowed on Mars as recently as last summer, a paper published on Monday showed.
But finding water, any water, on planets in general, and Mars in particular, is a scientific obsession.
Scientists believe that water is essential for life, so discovering water on another planet is a key step forward in potentially finding life on another planet.
On Monday, NASA announced that it has the best evidence yet of liquid water on Mars.
The study of unusual recurring streaks on the walls of craters has led scientists to strong evidence of flowing briny surface water on Mars.
“We’re not entirely sure what the source of the water may be”, he says. NASA’s ongoing Mars rover Curiosity has already found evidence that Mars had all the ingredients and suitable habitats for microbial life to exist at some point in its past. However, they cautioned that the amount of water may be too low to support known organisms that exist on Earth.
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“The existence of liquid water on Mars – even if it’s super salty briney water – gives the possibility that if there’s life on Mars we have a way to describe how it might survive”.
