What is liquid water’s importance?
Now, it is widely believed Mars has a large amount of water.
This water is only possible because the Earth’s surface is so frigid that it freezes to ice.
Many scientists agree that liquid water is vital for human life on Earth.
Since the advent of technology, mankind has been looking at Mars from a closer perspective.
Is it possible that water flowed on Mars’ surface in the past?
Mariner 9 revealed signs of water erosion in canyons, river beds, and other evidence. Also in 1971 there was evidence of Mars weather fronts.
The Viking orbiters’ later missions, first launched in 1975 by the Vikings, provided additional information about water flows on the surface, and created valleys.
Since the 1970s, a number of studies have investigated whether liquid water exists. The first evidence of liquid water was found on Mars in 2000.
According to some, the water that created the gullies on the planet’s surface was flowing from the ocean.
Researchers cited evidence that moving water existed at one point in the history red planet’s history, citing the debris and mud left behind.
However, this question has been heatedly debated over the past years.
Mars rocks provide evidence that ice exists
Spirit and Opportunity were twin rovers that found evidence of water in rock. In 2007, Spirit broke one of Spirits’ wheels and gorged a small piece.
The scratch’s silica-rich layer was found to have formed when liquid water was present.
The Phoenix Lander was collecting geological samples in 2008 and vanished after only a few days.
Scientists believed these pieces were ice. Later, the lander found water vapour within a sample.
In 2012, Curiosity was meandering over an ancient martian seabed when it examined a number of rocks that were exposed to liquid water billions of years ago.
Curiosity, pictured (pictured), was exploring an ancient martian seabed in 2012 when it examined several rocks that had been exposed to liquid water many billions of year ago.
It can be caused by recurring slope lines and debat.
The recurring slope lineae (RSL), are features that were discovered for the first time in 2011.
These streaks are found in areas with sharp incline.
These were thought to be caused by intermittent water flow down steep hills on Earth, according to researchers.
Curiosity’s June 2013 discovery of strong evidence that Mars had once been home to water was powerful. Curiosity also discovered that only 2% of fine soil materials contained water.
Nasa claims to have found liquid water on Mars for the first time in 2015.
The space agency said that its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provided the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.
2017. Another statement was issued by Nasa, refuting the initial findings.
In 2011, the first recurring slope lines (RSL), were identified. These darker streaks can be found on Mars’ steep slopes. These dark streaks could be caused by intermittent water flow, according to researchers.
The red planet had dark features running down steep inclines. These were actually granular flowing, meaning that grains of sand, dust, and water slip downhill, creating dark streaks.
Images from the MRO revealed the streaks only exist on slopes steep enough for dry grains to descend the way they do on faces of active dunes.
In 2017, researchers also gave the best estimate of the water content on Mars. It claimed it had once contained more liquid H2O that the Arctic Ocean. And these oceans have remained intact for 1.5 billion year.
These findings indicate that Mars had ample water and time for life to flourish, however over the past 3.7 billion years Mars has lost 87% of its water. This leaves the planet barren and dry.
A subterranean lake
ESO scientists have discovered concrete evidence of liquid water on Mars in a paper published in Science.
ESO’s radar imagery of Mars Express has shown that the ESO team found an underground lake 12 miles long filled with liquid.