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Dark streaks guide search for life on Mars
The story of water on Mars seems to be getting wetter, saltier and altogether more juicy.
NASA scientists have found evidence for liquid brines near the planet's surface that might provide a habitable zone for microbes today. If the discovery holds, it should guide future missions to Mars in the quest to find out whether the red planet can support life.
Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), a camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), have revealed thousands of narrow, dark streaks that appear on some of Mars's steep slopes during warmer seasons.
Water on Mars: Scientists find strongest evidence yet
For decades, space scientists have searched Mars for signs of water, the liquid generally believed to be essential for life. Now, they may well have found it.
Scientists announced Thursday that they had detected dozens of slopes across the southern hemisphere of the planet where previously undetected dark streaks come and go with the seasons. When the planet heats up, the streaks appear and expand downhill. When it gets cold, the streaks disappear.
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It’s a discovery that, if confirmed, would fundamentally change our understanding of Mars and would strongly support the widely held theory that the planet was once far more wet and warm. And scientists say the discovery of water would provide our best target yet for finding possible life beyond Earth.
Finger-like features visible in images from Mars may be streams of salty water spilling over the rims of craters, scientists believe.
The puzzling clusters of dark lines fade in winter and reappear in the spring.
New hints of saltwater on Mars
Flows of saltwater may ooze from rocky outcrops on Mars. Seasonal dark streaks on some Martian slopes could come from briny water, American and Swiss researchers suggest in the Aug. 5 Science.
Still, the researchers haven’t actually detected any water, frozen or liquid. Nor can they explain how the water would be replenished in the dry, harsh Martian environment.
Mars: Nasa images show signs of flowing water
"This could be the first flowing water," said Professor McEwen. This has profound implications in the search for extraterrestrial life. "Liquid water is absolutely essential for life, and we've found life on Earth in pretty much every moist niche," said Dr Lewis Dartnell, astrobiologist at University College London, who was not involved in the study. "So perhaps there could be hardy microbes surviving in these short periods of summer meltwater on the desert surface of Mars."
This was echoed by an expert on life in extreme environments, Professor Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland, also not involved in this study: "Their results are consistent with the presence of large and extensive underground salty lakes on Mars." "This is an exciting possibility for those of us studying salt-loving (halophilic) micro-organisms here on Earth, since it opens the possibility that these kinds of hearty bugs may also inhabit our neighbouring planet," he said. "Halophilic microbes are champions at withstanding the most punishing conditions, complete desiccation and ionising (space) radiation."
Dark streaks on Mars could be water
The clusters of trails, which fade during winter and reappear in warmer months, could prove to be the first solid evidence of liquid water currently existing on the red planet.
Scientists are convinced water probably flowed across the surface of the planet at some distant point in history, but have only been able to detect samples of frozen water near the surface.
Should the mysterious streaks prove to be caused by small streams of briny water, they could prove crucial to scientists searching for extraterrestrial life on the planet.
post by thegoods724
Aww thats lame, does anyone really care about if it can or cant support life,
Originally posted by USAisdevil
NASA keeps releasing nonsense again and again
Originally posted by thegoods724
Aww thats lame, does anyone really care about if it can or cant support life, no one is going to want to live there, atleast till we advance space travel by 1000% so do that first then tell me where we may or may not be able to live.
Originally posted by thegoods724
Aww thats lame, does anyone really care about if it can or cant support life, no one is going to want to live there, atleast till we advance space travel by 1000% so do that first then tell me where we may or may not be able to live.
Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Wait a second.... They are saying the photos may be showing flowing water on the surface of Mars? However slight a trickle or seasonal it may be, doesn't that go against what we've been told about the nature of the Martian atmosphere? I thought liquid couldn't exist in open atmosphere there?
Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
Wait a second.... They are saying the photos may be showing flowing water on the surface of Mars? However slight a trickle or seasonal it may be, doesn't that go against what we've been told about the nature of the Martian atmosphere? I thought liquid couldn't exist in open atmosphere there?
Originally posted by gortex
Its not about wanting to live there , that will happen eventually when we go to exploit the resources ,it's about finding extraterrestrial life on our near neighbor .
Originally posted by IsaacKoi
A relevant NASA press conference is currently being webcast at:
www.nasa.gov...
Originally posted by iksose7
Anybody that takes the time to do a bit of research will find that NASA is very decietfull and has covered up just about every major sign of life they have found on Mars.