Curiosity Rover Finds Water In Martian Soil Sample

NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered water in a Mars soil sample, suggesting future explorers of the Red Planet could get all the water they need from the red dirt under their shoes.

Study lead author Laurie Leshin of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, explained to Space.com that Curiosity found traces of water on Mars.

Surface soil on the Red Planet has about two percent water by weight, meaning an astronaut could extract about two pints of water from every cubic foot of Martian dirt.

Leshin explained, “For me, that was a big ‘wow’ moment. I was really happy when we saw that there’s easily accessible water here in the dirt beneath your feet. And it’s probably true anywhere you go on Mars.”

The study is based off work the Curiosity rover did during its first 100 days on Mars. The SUV-sized robot touched down on Mars in August 2012 and set off on a two-year mission to discover whether the planet could have supported microbial life at any point in its history.

That goal was achieved in March when the rover found an area near its landing site was habitable billions of years ago, notes Yahoo! News. Curiosity also did a lot of science work before that discovery was made. The rover scooped dirt from Mars’ surface and used its Sample Analysis at Mars instrument (SAM) to heat the dirt and discover what gases it boiled off.

SAM discovered significant amounts of carbon dioxide, oxygen, and sulfur compounds in the soil, along with lots of water. While the soil samples also contained some organic compounds, mission scientists reported last year that they likely have nothing to do with life on Mars.

The study about water in Martian soil was published in the journal Science on Thursday, along with four other studies about Curiosity’s finds.

[Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems via Wikimedia Commons]