Water can and does exist on Mars
Water in its liquid form can exist on Mars but only during the summer
and spring months and only for a couple of hours at a time, according to
a new study.
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The craters that can be found across the surface of Mars are
also seen as evidence for the existence of water |
Researchers have found that despite Mars' sub-zero temperatures,
small amounts of liquid water are able to form on the planet's surface
at the right temperature and with the presence of salt - furthering the
idea that the planet can support life.
The findings were made after the research team at the University of
Michigan created special chambers to imitate the freezing conditions
found on the surface of Mars.In these chambers, it was found that water
in its liquid form could be produced for short periods of time.
The study also found that this would only be possible if a type of
salt, found on Mars last year, was present. In 2008, the lead researcher
of the latest study, Dr Nilton Renno, discovered water beads on the leg
of the Phoenix Mars Lander, one of NASA's Mars rovers, just after it had
landed on the planet's surface.
It was Renno's theory that the water found on the spacecraft was
created after salts had melted the ice underneath the Phoenix and found
their way onto the spacecraft when the craft's thrusters blasted away
the surface's topsoil.
Many of his contemporaries disagreed, because there had been no
evidence that the salts he was describing had existed on Mars.
However, in 2013, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found the type of salts
that Renno was describing.
Following this discovery, the research team carried out the
experiment that looked to recreate the conditions that had occurred
during the Phoenix landing.
- The Independent |
