Water on Mars
Images taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft suggest the presence of liquid water on the Martian surface, and scientists are wondering if the Red Planet might harbor life, reports NASA.
Scientists for a long time have wondered whether life ever existed on Mars. Liquid water is considered necessary for life. On Earth, all forms of life need water to survive. Scientists previously established the existence of water on Mars in the form of ice at the poles and water vapor.
Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program, said that the observations provided the strongest evidence to date that water still flowed occasionally on the surface of Mars. "The big questions are: how does this happen, and does it point to a habitat for life?" Meyer said.
By the words of scientists, the atmosphere of Mars is so thin and the temperature so cold that liquid water cannot persist at the surface. It would rapidly evaporate or freeze. Researchers propose that water could remain liquid long enough, after breaking out from an underground source, to carry debris downslope before totally freezing. The two fresh deposits are each several hundred meters or yards long.
"These fresh deposits suggest that at some places and times on present-day Mars, liquid water is emerging from beneath the ground and briefly flowing down the slopes. This possibility raises questions about how the water would stay melted below ground, how widespread it might be, and whether there's a below-ground wet habitat conducive to life. Future missions may provide the answers," said Michael Malin of Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego.
Mars Global Surveyor began orbiting Mars in 1997. The spacecraft is responsible for many important discoveries. NASA has not heard from the spacecraft since early November. Attempts to contact it continue.
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