An image combining orbital imagery with 3D modelling shows flows that appear in spring and summer. Pictures courtesy NASA Source: news.com.au
- Signs of flowing salt water spotted on Mars
- Dark stripes appear during summer and spring
- Could be first discovery of active liquid water
WE know there could be snow on Mars, now recent data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggests it may also have flowing salt water.
NASA scientists have spotted a number of long, dark "tendrils" emerging between rocky outcrops that flow down Mars' slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere.�
The dark stripes appear in the warmer months thanks to the summer sun and are seen to flow around obstacles similar to the path of flowing water before the tendrils fade away in winter.�
Researchers believe this could be evidence that the streams are made of thawing mud, which would be the first discovery of active liquid water in the ground on Mars.
"By comparison with Earth, it's hard to imagine they are formed by anything other than fluid seeping down slopes," Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Richard Zurek of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said.
"The question is whether this is happening on Mars and, if so, why just in these particular places."
Frozen water has been detected in some of Mars' higher latitudes, and other evidence has suggested that water interacted with the Martian surface throughout the planet's history.
But the question of whether water exists as a liquid on the surface today remains debatable.
Professor Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland says the observations are consistent with underground salty lakes on Mars and this new evidence of liquid substances could mean a number of other exciting discoveries could be close at hand.
"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," Mr DasSarma, who was not involved in the study, told BBC.
A map of Mars showing the findings of salt and frozen water. Picture courtesy of NASA.
Source: news.com.au
Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory said the observations are a mystery now, but believes it is "solvable" with further experimentation.
"The best explanation we have for these observations so far is flow of briny water, although this study does not prove that," Mr McEwen, who explains NASA's findings in the journal, Science said.
"It's a mystery now, but I think it's a solvable mystery with further observations and experiments."
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