MARS STREAKS HINT AT POSSIBLE LIFE
NASA has discovered evidence of flowing water on Mars, a finding that could have major implications for the chance of discovering life on the planet.
“Mars is not the dry, arid planet we thought of in the past ... it once had extensive water resources,” NASA’s planetary science director Jim Green said.
“Mars suffered a major climate change and lost its surface water. Today we’re revolutionising our understanding of this planet.”
Scientists in 2008 confirmed the existence of frozen water on Mars. Now instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have yielded what researchers said was the strongest evidence yet that liquid water runs down certain Martian slopes.
As liquid water is essential to life, the discovery increases the possibility of finding life on Mars.
“It suggests that it would be possible for there to be life today on Mars,” NASA science mission chiefh John Grunsfeld said.
The agency said streaks on the planet’s surface were probably caused by water flowing across or just beneath the ground. Known as recurring slope lineae, the streaks are hundreds of metres long in places and the first evidence of their kind found on another planet.
Analysis revealed they absorbed light at specific wavelengths connected with chemicals known to pull water from the atmosphere.
The latest findings confirmed earlier reports by scientists, with NASA saying the flowing streams of salty water flow down certain slopes each summer.
These dark, narrow streaks appear and grow during the warmest Martian months and fade the rest of the year. Salt lowers the freezing point of water, which scientists say would explain these seasonal flows. Similar streaks are observed in Antarctica.
Dr Grunsfeld said the discovery could prove significant ahead of future manned missions to the planet.