Officials and principle researchers involved with the HiRISE, and Curiosity have announced today that there is flowing liquid water on Mars. It’s a bit more complicated than simply looking at physical, obvious streams. It would seem that once upon a time, Mars was covered by a huge ocean – sizable in comparison to two thirds of the oceans on Earth. But, as scientists stated, something happened, and Mars is now seen as dry, barren, and desolate. Since 2007, however, seasonal linea were seen flowing down the slopes of craters. A paper being published today proposes that perchlorates, which is a kind of salt, essentially absorb the air based water (humidity), and as the salts absorb the water they then begin to dissolve, at which point they flow down the slopes. Much is unknown, of course, but this is one major answer in a long series of very intense questioning.
In sum: Mars is very humid, and water has been found to be flowing. Soon, we’ll be sending humans to Mars, and will likely have set foot there by 2030.
Kenneth Chang over at the New York Times has a greater analysis and summary of events, which you can read here.
The Watchtower 