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Scientists reported Monday in a finding that boosts the odds of life on Mars, the red plane appears to have flowing rivulets of water, at least in the summer. According to Jim Green, director of planetary science for NASA “Mars is not the dry, arid planet that we thought of in the past.”
In 2008 scientists confirmed the existence of frozen water on Mars and now instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have discovered what researchers are calling the strongest evidence yet that water in liquid form trickles down certain Martian slopes.
Since liquid water is essential to life, the finding could have major implications for the possibility of microscopic life forms on Earth’s next-door neighbor. Scientists said the rivulets are about 12 to 15 feet wide and 300 feet or more long and they apparently consist of wet soil, not standing water.
The water allegedly contains certain salts, not ordinary table salt, but magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate. The salt is equivalent to road salt used to melt ice on Earth, such compounds can prevent water from freezing at extremely low temperatures.
This would explain how water could exist in liquid form on Mars, which has an average temperature of minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to supporting life, the presence of liquid water could make things easier for astronauts visiting or living on Mars.
NASA’s goal is to send humans there in the 2030s. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars exploration program, said at the moment the only definitive way to determine whether there’s life on Mars is to collect rocks and soil for analysis on Earth, which is something a U.S. lander set for liftoff in 2020 will do.
Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona at Tucson, a scientist on the project, said he believes the possibility of life on Mars to be “very high.” McEwen also said that there appears to be a “significant volume” of water, claiming it could fill many Olympic swimming pools, but that it is spread thin.
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