Where there’s water, there’s life—and vice versa. Aside from being a fundamental truth of science, this fact accounts for a huge amount of the studies we undertake during space exploration. Finding water, or proof of water, on another planet would all but confirm that said planet has the potential to support life—which is why the evidence of water flowing on Mars discovered by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers is so exciting.
The theory that Mars had water at some point is widely accepted, but these researchers are studying current dark, finger-shaped features on Martian terrain that appear and disappear on the planet’s surface seasonally.
The determination that these features could be briny water was made after exhaustive research, after researcher Lujendra Ojha and his team presented evidence of possible Martian saltwater flows back in 2011.
According to CNN, Ojha first stopped the irregular features on Mars as an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona. He continued researching once a graduate student at the Georgia Institute, where he and assistant professor James Wray have looked at 13 sites with these confirmed recurring slope features. Aside from photos, Ojha and Wray also uncovered chemical evidence of these seasonal water flows, which will appear and last for the equivalent of about two months on Earth, according to CNN.
Using a CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) instrument, the team was able to find the chemical signature of “something iron in nature,” on the Read Planet, as different substances absorb light at different, distinctive wavelengths. The “something iron in nature” occurred at the flows, with light absorption varying depending on the season: absorption was greater when the flows were forming or growing, and got weaker the more they faded away. According to Ojha, water is one possible explanation for the variations.
Photo courtesy of CNN
These photos and chemical evidence represent the best proof that Mars currently has water that we’ve ever come up with in our study of the planet, though that’s not to say it’s close to water on Earth. According to the study Martian water would be closer to the surface and most likely infused with ferric sulfate—which is proven to exist on Mars and would bring down the melting point of ice—a substance which would not have allowed life on Earth to survive had it been in our water.
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Source CNN
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