07.10.2015 change 07.10.2015

Geologist from the PAS on water on Mars: This is breakthrough information

Dark streaks on walls of Garni Crater on Mars. Source: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. Dark streaks on walls of Garni Crater on Mars. Source: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

It is one thing to suspect that liquid water could be present on Mars, and another to confirm this. This is breakthrough information - told PAP Dr. Anna Łosiak from the Institute of Geological PAS in Wroclaw.

Dr. Łosiak referred in this way to last week report of the American space agency. NASA scientists announced that they have evidence from spectroscopic observations of the presence of hydrated salts on the surface of Mars, which indicates the periodic presence of liquid water in the areas where they are present.

Recent analysis of data collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) give the strongest evidence to date that liquid water periodically exists on Mars also today, and not only in distant geological past. Using the imaging spectrometer operating on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers recorded the signatures of occurrence of hydrated minerals on the slopes, on which mysterious dark streaks are visible.

Today it would be difficult to gain even greater certainty of the presence of water - emphasised Dr. Łosiak. "To have an even stronger confirmation, you would need to send a lander, preferably a rover, that would checked everything on the spot" - she said.

Water on Mars is an exciting subject, because it is essential every form of life as we know it, including bacteria that live in the most hostile conditions on Earth - noted Dr. Łosiak. "If there is water on Mars - that means that perhaps a form of life existed there, and may even have managed to survive" - she explained.

Geologist noted that we are talking about water as we know it (H2O). "It is important if we want to send humans into space in the future. We need to choose a place where they can find water, not only because it is needed to drink. Also, because it can be used to produce oxygen, it is also needed to obtain rocket fuel"- she said.

Geologist reminded that in the distant history of Mars, water flowed there. "More than three billion years ago, Earth and Mars were similar. It rained or snowed on both planets, and rivers were flowing into lakes or even oceans. Unfortunately, more than 3 billion years ago a large part of water, once present on the surface of the Red Planet, irretrievably escaped into space. This was due to the much smaller than Earth\'s gravitational pull with which Mars "holds" its own atmosphere, and as a result the lack of protective magnetic field.

"At the same time in the past it was accepted that the best explanation for some terrain forms, such as, for example, RSL (mysterious structures on the surface of the Red Planet, known as "recurring slope lineae" - PAP) is the presence of water. And not just in the distant past, but possibly also be quite recently" - said Dr. Łosiak, one of the authors of the material devoted to water on Mars, published in the latest issue of the journal "Icarus". It concerns the calculations of a Polish-American team indicating that water in liquid form may be present on the surface of the northern polar cap of Mars.

Dr. Łosiak noted that we are talking about very distant past in the life of the planet. "The times in which dinosaurs lived, are 65 million years away from us. We are talking about three billion years" - she emphasised.

According to Dr. Łosiak, after confirming the presence of water on Mars, the most important question concerning this planet is now the matter of life: if it developed there at all, and if so, whether it managed to survive to our times. Answering this question will be the task of future NASA and ESA missions, for example the planned joint European Space Agency and Russian Space Agency Roskosmos mission ExoMars, which will probably depart in 2016.

For 2018 it is also planned to send a rover, with an objective to determine whether there is life on Mars. Novelty will be research conducted under the surface of the planet - said Dr. Łosiak. "Why? Mars is dry, and there is very strong radiation. In organisms that we know, subjected to such conditions, genetic material would be simply destroyed. Therefore, if we can potentially find microorganisms, they would probably live somewhere under the surface" - she said.

PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland, Anna Ślązak

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