Strongest evidence yet: Signs of liquid ‘water’ found on Mars
If anything, it was likely “wet soil, not free water sitting on the surface,” study co-author Alfred McEwen said
PARIS:
Scientists announced on Monday “the strongest evidence yet” of liquid water on Mars, raising the distant prospect of microscopic life on the planet. A team of scientists at Nasa said lines running down steep slopes on the surface of the Red Planet may be streaks of super-salty brine. Evidence of “hydrated” salt minerals in the streaks “strongly support the hypothesis” of liquid water on Mars -- though not H2O as we know it, concluded a research paper in the journal Nature Geoscience. If anything, it was likely “wet soil, not free water sitting on the surface,” study co-author Alfred McEwen said. NASA said the findings, made with its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, “provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2015.
Scientists announced on Monday “the strongest evidence yet” of liquid water on Mars, raising the distant prospect of microscopic life on the planet. A team of scientists at Nasa said lines running down steep slopes on the surface of the Red Planet may be streaks of super-salty brine. Evidence of “hydrated” salt minerals in the streaks “strongly support the hypothesis” of liquid water on Mars -- though not H2O as we know it, concluded a research paper in the journal Nature Geoscience. If anything, it was likely “wet soil, not free water sitting on the surface,” study co-author Alfred McEwen said. NASA said the findings, made with its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, “provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2015.