The philosophy of NASA in searching for extraterrestrial life has been simple: follow the water. In today’s announcement , NASA has confirmed that streaks shown on the slides below are, indeed, liquid water, able to flow in extreme saline (salty) conditions on the Martian soil, and therefore withstand the -63 to -123 degrees Celsius (-81.4 to -189 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures on the surface.
Images released by Nasa show dark streaks on Mars thought to be caused by liquid water http://t.co/TzTxzyKaIr pic.twitter.com/ioutVPM9Kb
— BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) September 28, 2015
The finding is significant, as thousands of photos contain so-called Recurring Slope Lineae, or RSL, which means Mars has an active water cycle. While there is mystery where this water is coming from, geology on Earth suggests there are several possibilities. The water could be emanating from an internal heat source — much like magma flows from volcanoes, water could be flowing out of ventilation pipes. There could be underground rivers and streams under the surface of Mars which occasionally, like Hot Springs in Yellowstone Park, burst through and percolate through the sand, creating the familiar brown and black streaks seen all over Mars by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE snapshots.
In all of the above pictures, seasonal changes have been observed and, at least since 2008, NASA has considered these streaks might be water. With overwhelming evidence, scientists are now confident that one puzzle of Mars — is there still flowing liquid on the surface of Mars? — has been answered, according to Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, lead author of a report on these findings, published September 28 by Nature Geoscience .
“When most people talk about water on Mars, they’re usually talking about ancient water or frozen water… 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.”
This GIF shows seasonal flows in the Hale Crater on #Mars , that may involve liquid water http://t.co/nCplf0ORob pic.twitter.com/neW3ABKer6
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) September 28, 2015
So, what is the significance of this finding? First, water on Mars means that future astronauts have a source of liquid water, which means a reduction in supply cargo to the red planet. With a scheduled one-way trip to Mars in 2024, such news will boost the spirits of mission leaders who want success for the astronauts.
#Social #Mars via @SocialNewsCorp is out! http://t.co/eHnWoECqsX Stories via @geminijai @sanyserrano47 @Pauloaep
— Social Mars™ (@SocialMars) September 28, 2015
Second, water on Mars means there could be an internal ocean and, ultimately, existing life. If Mars were capable of supporting life, scientists would expand their definition of what constitutes conditions for life to form on a planet. If life can exist on Mars, the universe could be a potential Petri dish, teeming with (albeit likely single-cell) life. But life nonetheless.
Life in our Solar System?1.MARS:Microbes? 2.EUROPA (Jupiter moon): Ocean under ice 3. ENCELADUS (Saturn Moon) 4.TITAN http://t.co/KvDsMwCvaz
— The Harper Files (@RL_Harper) March 25, 2015
And if this is true, then how many more advanced civilizations like Earth could there be? The New Horizons probe has made fascinating discoveries about Pluto, finding its surface dynamic and with a possible internal ocean that could itself host life.
NASA scientists discuss how finding flowing water on Mars suggests chances of life on the red planet https://t.co/MpMqaCF4tH — Sky News (@SkyNews) September 28, 2015
[Images by NASA / JPL / University of Arizona]
