NASA Just Discovered Something About Mars And It Has "Life-Changing" Implications

by N/A, 8 years ago | 2 min read

Despite how gratifying it is to be right, sometimes, in certain scenarios, you're happy to be wrong. For NASA, and planetary researchers, this is definitely one of those scenarios.

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For the past umpteen years, researchers and scientists have confidently deemed Mars as a destitute, lifeless wasteland. But recently, that all changed.

On Monday, September 28th, scientists from both NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory confirmed definitive signs of liquid water Mars' surface - Â a finding that easily presents the strongest case for sustainable life on the red planet that scientists and researchers alike have both ever had.

The discovery was made through the identification of "hydrated salts" and their steady movement down the planets ravines and hillsides.

â€œThis, I think, gives a focus of where we should look more closely,â€ said Alfred S. McEwen, a professor of planetary geology at theÂ University of ArizonaÂ and the lead investigator of the images gathered from the high-resolution camera on NASA'sÂ Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The salts, known more formally as perchlorates, and their acitivity are the result of water deposits essentially waterlogging, or "hydrating" them.

â€œThatâ€™s a direct detection of water in the form of hydration of salts,â€ says Dr. McEwen. â€œThere pretty much has to have been liquid water recently present to produce the hydrated salt.â€

And when he says "recently," he means recently. In his words, "days, something of that order."

Though researchers have confidently, and repeatedly, stated that millions of years ago Mars was once covered in rivers and oceans, modern-day research has since labeled it as an all but desolate planet. This recent finding debunks the speculation that our "cousin planet" is incapable of supporting life.

Is Mars capable of supporting life right now? Probably not - at least not human life. But it may still be in the stars.