An image combining orbital imagery with 3-D modeling shows flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Ariz
Back in 2006 I wrote a
post on Quantum Limits pointing out that liquid water could indeed exist on Mars. As I said:
Its commonly believed that the low Martian atmospheric pressure and low temperatures would not allow liquid water to exist. It would either quickly boil away or freeze solid. Well last year researchers put this to the test. They poured a brine solution on some Mars soil stimulant and put it into a Mars simulation chamber. The water didn't evaporate away, it soaked into the soil and formed mud. The atmospheric humidity is nearly 100% so its difficult for water to evaporate.
Well, NASA's Mars Reconnaiiance Orbiter has
found strong evidence that there really is liquid water on Mars.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed on Thursday that highly salty water may flow on Red Planet during the warmest months, which raise the chances that life could exist on Mars.
"NASA's Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbor life in some form and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said.
The pictures point to pictures which feature dark, finger shaped features extending down Martian slopes during late spring through summer. These slopes fade in the winter and return in the spring.
"The best explanation for these observations so far is the flow of briny water," said Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson. McEwen is part of a team that is working with the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and lead author of a report about the recurring flows published in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
I'm not going to be shouting "I was right!" just yet but my prediction looks good.
