On Sept. 28, NASA announced that up to one-fifth of Mars may have once been covered by water, due to recent photographs transmitted from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, according to Quartz.
Dark stains resembling the aftermath of seeping liquid have been discovered fanning out at the bases of Martian cliffs. Scientists refer to these kinds of stains as recurring slope lineae (RSL), which they define as salty, liquid residue flowing in a downhill direction, according to a NASA press release on Sept. 28.
“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,'” John Grunsfeld, former astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington D.C. said. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
Dr. Edmond Wilson, professor of chemistry, is a Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and has been focusing on Martian research for the last 15 years. Wilson said that although there have been hoaxes in the past, there is no doubt this time that water does exist on Mars.
“The feeling now is that it is indeed water that seeped out of the side of a crater, just as you would see when you drive down the highway in winter … and you see icicles coming out of the sides of a cut through an embankment,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the reason the water is not immediately evaporating is possibly due to the high salt content, which lowers the freezing point and allows the water to spread and form the RSL picked up by the Orbiter’s cameras.
“This fact that there is liquid water on Mars is extremely important if you are looking for signs of life,” Wilson said. “My friend Dr. Chris McKay at NASA Ames Research Center is an expert astrobiologist … and (he) said that the chemistry of life in the rest of the universe would have to be carbon-based and require water to exist.”
Wilson said that recent evidence shows there is life to be found in the crevices of rocks in the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is one of the driest places on Earth. Therefore, the idea of life on Mars is not so far-fetched after all.
“It is thought that if there is life on Mars, it is microbial in nature and would be found underground in caves that were warmer and wetter,” Wilson said.
In the Sept. 28 press release, NASA referred to this discovery as the “latest of many breakthroughs” in Mars research.
“It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future,” Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program said.
