Scientists say Mars has water

    During a televised press conference Sept. 28, NASA scientists announced that liquid water exists under certain conditions on the red planet.
    NASA rovers and orbiters already probing the planet have supplied a growing body of information about Mars. In 2013, scientists said water existed in a lake on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. But the new finding, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, goes a step beyond: Scientists now say evidence suggests "contemporary water activity" on the planet.
    Here are four questions and answers about the news.

     What is the evidence of water on that big, dry planet that looks like a giant desert?
    Scientists have observed what they call “recurring slope lineae,” basically, dark lines on the surface.  
    “These start to form in the early summer. They grow, very gradually or incrementally,” said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona in Tucson, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. “Then they stop growing. They disappear. They are gone entirely for most of the Mars year. The following Mars summer new features appear and grow that are very similar.” McEwen added.
     Using a Mars orbiter mineral mapping instrument known as CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars), scientists analyzed how light was absorbed on the surface and drew conclusions about which minerals could absorb light at specific wavelengths, explained Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, lead author of the report.
    Scientists found perchlorate salts. “The fact that these salts are hydrated when we observed them means that there is the presence of molecular water in their crystal structure,” he explained.

      What is the significance?
     The water is briny and not pure, said Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and a co-author of the paper. 
     But the findings are nonetheless significant. Water is an essential ingredient for life. “Our results could point to more habitable conditions on the near surface of Mars than previously thought,” Wilhelm said, adding that while more research is necessary, “the detection we’ve described warrants further astrobiological characterization and exploration of these unique regions on Mars.”  
     Water may also be an important resource for future explorers and inhabitants, “and may decrease the cost and increase the resilience of human activity on the red planet,” she said. But scientists still must learn the source of the water and the amount of it.  

      So is this a breakthrough for travel to Mars?     
      This sort of discovery provides a better understanding of the planet's resources useful to future travelers, scientists said during the press conference.

      How likely is it that there is some form of life on Mars?
     Scientists looking for life on Mars are following the water.
     McEwen, who was also a co-author of the paper, said he believes there is life in the crust of Mars. “Microbes,” he added. “But where is it? How accessible is it? It’s very difficult. …To me, the chance of there being life in the subsurface of Mars has always been very high.”   
 

     Related:

    Mars lake may have supported life

    Scientists believe Mars had lakes

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