NASA: Liquid water flows on present-day Mars

‘Life on Mars’ has for long been the area of research, interest and debate all over the world and countries have been spending billions of dollars on the same.

In what could be a path breaking discovery, new findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows sporadically on present-day Mars. Although the discovery does not directly point to existence of life on Mars, the evidence of liquid water would definitely boost hopes that the planet may have the possibility to support life.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

Researchers have detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time on the Red Planet. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.

"We found the hydrated salts only when the seasonal features were widest, which suggests that either the dark streaks themselves or a process that forms them is the source of the hydration. In either case, the detection of hydrated salts on these slopes means that water plays a vital role in the formation of these streaks," said Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, lead author of a report on these findings published Sept. 28 by Nature Geoscience.

Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA, said the discovery announced Monday puts NASA in a perfect position to look for that life, CNN reported.

"We haven't been able to answer the question, 'Does life exist beyond Earth?'," Green said. "But following the water is a critical element of that. We now have, I think, a great opportunity to be in the right locations on Mars to thoroughly investigate that."