hese dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. The blue color seen upslope of the dark streaks are thought not to be related to their formation, but instead are from the presence of the mineral pyroxene. The image is produced by draping an orthorectified (Infrared-Red-Blue/Green(IRB)) false color image (ESP_030570_1440) on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the same site produced by High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona). Vertical exaggeration is 1.5. Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
These dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. The blue color seen upslope of the dark streaks are thought not to be related to their formation, but instead are from the presence of the mineral pyroxene. The image is produced by draping an orthorectified (Infrared-Red-Blue/Green(IRB)) false color image (ESP_030570_1440) on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the same site produced by High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona). Vertical exaggeration is 1.5.
Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

“Under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on Mars” – Jim Green, NASA Planetary Science Director

The announcement was made during a live press conference this morning. There is flowing water on Mars!

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. 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.

Read the full details here from NASA.

They didn’t shy away from anything in the questions either.

First question, does this mean there is or was life on Mars?

Jim Green, director of planetary science at Nasa headquarters won’t put a number on the chances of life on Mars but he points out that life on Earth requires water.

Alfred McEwen says: “The possibility of life in the interior of Mars has always been very high. It’s very likely I think that there is life somewhere in the crust of Mars, microbes.”

Plus, I never thought of this! There already is life on Mars…and we took it there!

John Grunsfeld says NASA does everything it can to clean its spacecraft so they don’t actually contaminate Mars, but it’s impossible to get rid of all the microbes on the equipment. He says one thing NASA tries to be very careful of is making sure any life that may or may not be found on Mars isn’t actually life from Earth they may have transported there themselves by accident.

So, what’s the next step? They keep on keeping on. More research, more studies. The better our technology gets, the more we’re able to accomplish.

Exciting times!