DAVID ADAMS reports on news this week of evidence of water on Mars…
NASA says new findings from its Mars probe provide the “strongest evident yet” that liquid water flows on Mars in a dramatic finding announced in the US on Monday morning.
Images sent back from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show mysterious dark streaks appearing on slopes on the red planet which darken and appear to flow down steep slopes in warmer seasons – when temperatures reach above minus 23 degrees Celsius – and fade in cooler seasons.
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EVIDENCE OF WATER?: Top – Hundred metre long streaks on slopes on Mars – such as these at the Hale crater – have been found to contain hydrated salts, inferred as evidence of contemporary water flows; Bottom – The dark streaks on the walls of the Garni crater. PICTURES: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water – albeit briny – is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”– John Grunsfeld, an astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate |
The discovery, which comes in the face of previous assumptions liquid water could not survive the planet’s dry, cold conditions and low atmospheric pressure, would mean Earth is no longer the only planet with flowing water and increases the possibility of Mars being home to some form of life.
John Grunsfeld, an astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, says the findings appear to confirm what scientists have long hypothesised.
“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,” he said. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water – albeit briny – is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
Lujendra Ojha, an academic at the Georgia Institute of Technology and lead author of a report on the findings published in the journal Nature Geoscience this week, first saw the dark lines five years ago but has only been able to confirm what they are by pairing two different types of observations taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which has been examining the surface of Mars since 2006.
An analysis of the mineral composition of the dark streaks at four different locations on the planet showed they contain hydrated salts, what has been described as a “smoking gun” for the presence of water.
“When most people talk about water on Mars, they’re usually talking about ancient water of frozen water,” Mr Ohja said. “Now we know there’s more to the story. This is the first spectral detection that unambiguously supports our liquid water-formation hypotheses for RSL (‘recurring slope lineae’ – a term used to describe the dark streaks).”
