A new discovery...:

Water on Mars too salty?

The quest (search) for evidence of life on Mars has been a key concern of many space programmes. However, one recent discovery has made this job a bit more complicated. It has shown that water on Mars has been extremely salty, apart from being acidic.

Therefore, the argument is that such water would have not supported any life forms which we are familiar with, and even if there were any, their chances of survival would have been very little even during good times on Mars.

The findings have been based on test results sent by the 'Opportunity' rover which has been analysing mineral samples on Mars. It has explored the Martian plane known as 'Meridiani Planum', where it had landed just over four years ago.

The analysis has taken the present-day chemical content and worked backward in time, using a computer model in order to come up with the conclusions.

Further evidence has come from an analysis of one of the more recent pictures captured by Opportunity which provided a close-up image of a rock known as 'Gilbert'. This rock, which is more like a slab, is covered with the blueberry-like stones that have often been seen in Meridiani Planum. Apart from that, there has been a form of 'fins' along an edge. Scientists have stated that those fins tell geologists that rocks were formed by fluid flow.

However, still there would be a lot to find with the lineup of missions set to Mars. The Opportunity and Spirit rovers have been functioning for four years and recently the Spirit rover found a region with pure silica which has suggested that there have been hot springs and steam vents in the past.

Furthermore, the Mars Phoenix Lander is scheduled to land on Mars in May to analyse the underneath of the Martian surface. Finally, the Mars Science Laboratory, a rover far more capable than Spirit and Opportunity, is being set for its 2009 mission to look for further signs of ancient life.

Aravinda Dassanayake