I was intrigued the other day by BBC news that they have found evidence of existence of water on Mars. The appearance of what scientists believe is flowing salt water on Mars has reignited speculation about alien life. These high-resolution images sent from NASA's orbiter show what appear to be marks left by water flowing down from Mars' rocky slopes, and a report on the findings published in the latest issue of the journal Science.

These sequences of images are taken by the powerful camera called HiRISE aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been orbiting the planet since 2006, shows "dark, finger-like" streaks in the Martian spring and summer, NASA reports.

These marks, 0.5 to 5 meters wide, with lengths up to hundreds of yards long, fade in winter and return in the spring, suggesting the "flow of briny water," according to Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Here is some data on Mars so to help you get things in perspective:

1- Temperature is an important factor determining if life can exist on a planet. Surface temp is from a minimum of −87 °C to a maximum of 20 °C. These temperature ranges tolerable by microorganisms is remarkable and the microbial ecosystems of Antarctica typify the sort of life that can survive where extreme cold is a limiting factor and these are the range that can certainly support some life.

2- There is expected to be a wide range of atmospheric pressure consistent with habitability; the total barometer pressure consisting of tolerable partial pressures of essential constituents, such as nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. This is especially so for microorganisms with their extraordinary adaptability and metabolic variety. Surface pressure 0.636 (0.4–0.87) kPa - this was the main reason for the thinking that life on Mars is unlikely as this value is way too low to sustain life as we know it.

3- Hydrology is also an important factor and until now it was thought that liquid water could not exist on the surface of Mars due to low atmospheric pressure, except at the lowest elevations for short periods. The volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters.

However, now with the observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed possible flowing water during the warmest months on Mars.

"NASA's Mars Exploration Program keeps bringing us closer to determining whether the Red Planet could harbour life in some form,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said, “and it reaffirms Mars as an important future destination for human exploration."

Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere.

"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 the principal investigator for 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.

"It's hard to imagine they are formed by anything other than fluid seeping down slopes," said Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project Scientist Richard Zurek of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, but they appear when it's still too cold for fresh water.

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,"

The full mission to mars is still decades away. However a closer look at the surface of the planet is most certainly possible with a good space telescope. Lets hope one of these days someone funds a bigger and larger Hubble like telescope to examine Mars and near planets without having to spend all that money for a mars mission.

Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Enter the code shown above:

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

About Scifiwood News Reviews and Blogs

These are various short and long News Articles, Reviews and Blogs by Salar Golestanian and employees of SalarO.com as well as contributors of Scifiwood.com. The subject matter are mixed topics with Pure Science to Science Fiction as well as general topics on Web Trends, Technology, Software Engineering genre, or whatever subject that can affect the convergence of today's technology with Science Fiction in any shape or form. These Blogs and Reviews don't have commercial or corporate aspiration, so they are indeed completely independent views. Some of these entries may be short and just link you to the actual news or site that can expand further on the subject of interest. In Phase II we plan to incorporate some Social Networking applications within the portal.