NASA: Evidence of water on Mars | Possible streams of water ‘spotted on Mars’

It’s known that there are frozen water deposits on Mars. Now, it seems that there are seasonal streams of liquid water flowing across the surface of the Red Planet, say astronomers, including an Indian-origin scientist.

In fact, it was U.S. space agency NASA which said that pictures taken from its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft showed finger-like features which may be flows of salty water spilling over the rims of craters.

Lujendra Ojha and colleagues at the University of Arizona now claim that, if confirmed, the discovery could finally help establish whether life could be sustained on Mars.

“I was baffled when I first saw those features. We soon realised they were different from slope streaks that had been observed before. These were highly seasonal and we observed some of them had grown by more than 200 metres in a matter of just two Earth months,” Jha said.

His colleague, Dr Alfred McEwen said the markings were “a mystery now, but a solvable mystery”. “The best explanation we have for these observations so far is a flow of briny water, although this study does not prove that,” he said.



NASA: Evidence of water on Mars | Possible streams of water ‘spotted on Mars’