NASA Spacecraft Data Suggest Water Flowing on Mars

NASA have just released information of possible flowing water on MARS:

PASADENA, Calif. -- Observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars... Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere... "The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water"... Some aspects of the observations still puzzle researchers, but flows of liquid brine fit the features' characteristics better than alternate hypotheses. Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water. Sites with active flows get warm enough, even in the shallow subsurface, to sustain liquid water that is about as salty as Earth's oceans, while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures. These results are the closest scientists have come to finding evidence of liquid water on the planet's surface today. Frozen water, however has been detected near the surface in many middle to high-latitude regions. Fresh-looking gullies suggest slope movements in geologically recent times, perhaps aided by water. Purported droplets of brine also appeared on struts of the Phoenix Mars Lander. If further study of the recurring dark flows supports evidence of brines, these could be the first known Martian locations with liquid water...

www.nasa.gov...

www.nasa.gov...

Professor Alfred McEwen of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona says, "This could be the first flowing water... This has profound implications in the search for extraterrestrial life"

Striking new images from the mountains of Mars may be the best evidence yet of flowing, liquid water, an essential ingredient for life...

"It's hard to imagine they are formed by anything other than fluid seeping down slopes," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Richard Zurek of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but they appear when it's still too cold for fresh water..

"The best explanation we have for these observations so far is flow of briny water, although this study does not prove that," said planetary geologist and lead author Professor Alfred McEwen of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona. Saltiness lowers the temperature at which water freezes, and water about as salty as Earth's oceans could exist at these sites in summer.

www.bbc.co.uk...

The possibility of life on Mars has just become more realistic according to this new data from NASA.



EDIT: There is a previous thread on this topic ( i done a search, but I missed it)

Mars: Breaking news - NASA releases strongest evidence yet of water

LOL! we talked about this in another thread AS IT HAPPENED earlier today...

I thought mars was too cold for liquid water?

NASA talked about this in the same vein several times before, this 2006 link carries a similar story,

news.nationalgeographic.com...

perhaps with the ability to study the seasons more closely over a period of time reinforces the previous viewpoint.

The thing I can't yet get round is how the water is able to get released at the surface which is at best -5° Celsius, (they do say that it is a seasonal thing) you would think that there would be a permanent ice-plug, or at least a colder season ice-plug since water had gone before and then frozen. The thing is the water may be above a some kind of thermal pressure source, possibly a heat source and maybe mars is heating up 'again' internally, and that the water is simply warm..ish. When you think about it, it's hard to see such a big planet not having some kind of heating from stretching and pulling from gravitational forces from the sun and and all the other planets. What comes round goes round.

I thought I should add this 2004 study on Martian seismic activity,

www.msnbc.msn.com...

You will see that much about mars is an open question, some think that there is still a molten core.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


They are talking about salt water or brine - saltiness lowers the temperature at which water freezes.

I had already said this....
www.abovetopsecret.com...

And in another related thread, beautiful images of dry and wet tracks flows.......
www.abovetopsecret.com...
Here some proofs




And an Hydraulic Pump.......

Originally posted by sean_uk
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

They are talking about salt water or brine - saltiness lowers the temperature at which water freezes.

Yes they are, and they are also talking about more acidity, but I imagine they would then have to establish to the end result the needed high concentration of salt in the water, and the same for an acidic end result. In each case where did it come from?

There is another thread on this topic which was posted before this, please go to that one:

Mars: Breaking news - NASA releases strongest evidence yet of water

There is no water on Mars and there never has been.

What part of mars are these " trails " ? The equator ? North , south ?
Please forgive if this is pointed out somewhere , haven't read the article yet .

Originally posted by sean_uk
There is another thread on this topic which was posted before this, please go to that one:

Mars: Breaking news - NASA releases strongest evidence yet of water

Hold on a minute there .... The other thread is in the aliens forum .....
This is the breaking news forum , this is totally excepted by the boards T&C rules .
Also , it being posted in the breaking news forum will have a different flow when compared to it's counter part in the aliens forum

So please feel free to post here

Most awesome piece of news on a day the stocks crash, makes you remember there is better things out there!

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