The million dollar question, “Are we alone in the universe?” once again raised following NASA’s declaration of Water evidence on ‘Mars’.
Data from a Nasa satellite shows the features, which appear on slopes, to be associated with salt deposits.
Crucially, such salts could alter the freezing and vaporisation points of water in Mars’s sparse air, keeping it in a fluid state long enough to move.
“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”
There are implications for the existence of life on the planet today, because any liquid water raises the possibility that microbes could also be present. And for future astronauts on Mars, the identification of water supplies near the surface would make it easier for them to “live off the land”.
