WE FOUND WATER ON MARS.
THERE IS WATER ON MARS.
AAAAAAAAAAAA
Martian fans By now you've definitely heard, there's brine
on Mars.
Salty, salty, brine.
BREAK OUT THE BALL JARS GENT'S.
LET'S PICKLE SOME CUKES.
Yes!
They found water on Mars.
But like, didn't we already find water on Mars?
Haven't we been here before?
[[Anthony, water on mars clip]] Yeah, we did.
Literally two years ago almost to the DAY, NASA announced water was found in experiments
done by the SAM -- a portable robotic laboratory living in the belly of MSL Curiosity.
Well, back in 2013, we knew there was enough water on Mars to cover the whole planet to
a depth of 35 meters, but as far as scientists knew, the water was trapped in quote "ice
caps, thick sequences of ice-rich layers, and mantles of snow."
In fact, the Wikipedia page at the end of the year in 2013 uses the Journal Icarus as
a source and says quote "Some liquid water may occur transiently on the Martian surface
today but only under certain conditions."
The journal says their experiments indicate there could be water in seasonal melts on
Martian slopes.
Well GUESS WHAT Michael H Hecht!
YOU WERE RIGHT.
The newest discovery says just that!
In a paper published in Nature Geoscience, researchers announced the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter has found signs that water may flow intermittently on present day Mars, showing,
yet again, that though science moves slowly, it bends toward the truth.
The water in question is very salty water…
technically, it's hydrated perchlorate.
Water mixed with high concentrations of salt has a lower freezing temperature than pure
water, so it can still flow on the slopes of Mars even when temperatures are as low
as minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94F).
That's cold.
Salty water means there might be life in it, because pure water would freeze, killing any
life present.
Perchlorates have been known on Mars for years.
Phoenix found some in 2007, and Curiosity in April 2015 found calcium perchlorates.
Under the right conditions these perchlorates absorb water vapor from the air, and then
FLOW.
But you shouldn't picture rivers and streams for this water.
Instead, as best as I and DiscoveryNews' space producer Dr. Ian O'Neill can figure, it's
probably a denser sludgy water that appears in the warmer season and disappears in the
colder.
The very salty water is still super cold and highly toxic to humans, it would damage the
thyroid, but even so salted, it might not be toxic to everything.
NewScientist reminds readers in the Atacama desert, microbes can live on salts which absorb
moisture from that, the driest atmosphere on Earth.
And, according to a 2012 study, Mars may have had an ocean that could sustain bacteria 3.5
billion years ago (Oceanus Borealis) covering 38 percent of the planet.
In the intervening years, Mars' low gravity and thin atmosphere allowed the water to slowly
escape into space… leaving what we find today, but even still, water is a huge win
for scientists, and it's incredible that we can find it in liquid form on our neighbor
planet.
The question now, is where this water is coming from?
Mars can reach 100 percent atmospheric humidity on winter nights, so some believe the perchlorates
absorb water from the humid Martian air, others think it might come from underground aquifers.
Scientists can't be sure without more data.
Finding water increases the chances even more of finding evidence of life off of our planet.
Curiosity is only 50 kilometers from the site where water was found, but it can't go there,
why?
Because of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (one of my favorites) which has a sort of Microbial
Prime Directive.
Curiosity wasn't sterilized enough to go near water on another planet where any stowaway
Earth-life could take a foothold and contaminate Mars!
For now, we know the water is there, and we know the possible life implications that brings
with it… but we can't do much about it until either a super-sterile mission is sent, or
humans show up and can see it with their own eyes.
Maybe you saw the headlines about water on Mars this week, but that's the full story.
Thanks for holding out and tuning in.
If you want to know more about Mars, I'll be down in the comments with you!
Let's chat about this discovery!
What else do you want to know about space?
Tell me!
And hey, if you’re DNews fan who lives near the Bay Area, make sure you come out to our
first ever live show DNews After Dark!
It’s in San Francisco at the Castro Theater on October 22nd.
Julia and I have picked some of our favorite science enthusiasts to talk about all sorts
of cool stuff.
If you want to know more, or buy tickets, there’s a link in the description.
I really hope to meet a ton of you there!