Photos Reveal: Mars Had Water Underground
Photos from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration reveal a landscape of hills and sand dunes punctuated by rock bleached by minerals in ancient underground streams.
Those streams of water, or water mixed with liquid carbon dioxide, flowed for weeks or longer — long enough to have supported bacteria or other simple life forms, according to a study by the American Association for the Advancement of Science appearing in today’s issue of the journal Science.
“The most interesting aspect we found in these new photos is that we can see that the water, with most likely other dissolved chemicals in it, resided in these areas for weeks or months or longer,” said the study co-author, Chris Okubo, of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona.
“It means these areas would have been potentially habitable,” Mr. Okubo said in an interview.
Mars is the only planet in the solar system besides Earth where scientists believe life might have existed. While previous photos of the planet showed dry river channels and lakebeds, there has been no proof as to whether those surface areas were wet long enough to have supported life, Mr. Okubo said.
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