NASA's revealed earlier this week that there might be highly salty water flowing on Mars during the warmest months, raising chances that life could exist on Mars.
NASA released the following photos of what could be briny water.
This map of Mars shows relative locations of three types of findings related to salt or frozen water, plus a new type of finding that may be related to both salt and water.Coloring of the map is coded to concentrations of shallow subsurface water ice found by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer - Neutron Spectrometer on NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter. Blue, at high latitudes north and south, indicates higher concentrations of water ice (deduced from detection of hydrogen); orange designates lowest concentrations. Some hydrogen, possibly in the form of bound water, is close to the surface even at middle latitudes.The white squares in the northern hemisphere mark locations of small fresh impact craters that exposed water ice close to the surface and validated the neutron spectrometer data. Observations of these fresh craters were made by the Context Camera and the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.The red squares mark locations of putative deposits of chlorite based on observations by the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. Such salt deposits could have resulted from evaporation of salty water.The blue squares mark locations of a type of feature reported in August 2011 based on sequences of observations by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment. The observations show relatively dark features appearing and incrementally growing down slopes during warm seasons. Researchers hypothesize that these features may result from action of briny water.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/UA/LANL/MThis series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today. Evidence for that possible interpretation is presented in a report by McEwen et al. in the Aug. 5, 2011, edition of Science.These images come from observations of Newton crater, at 41.6 degrees south latitude, 202.3 degrees east longitude, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In time, the series spans from early spring of one Mars year to mid-summer of the following year. The images taken from oblique angles have been adjusted so that all steps in the sequence show the scene as if viewed from directly overhead.The features that extend down the slope during warm seasons are called recurring slope lineae. They are narrow (one-half to five yards or meters wide), relatively dark markings on steep (25 to 40 degree) slopes at several southern hemisphere locations. Repeat imaging by HiRISE shows the features appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. They extend downslope from bedrock outcrops, often associated with small channels, and hundreds of them form in rare locations. They appear and lengthen in the southern spring and summer from 48 degrees to 32 degrees south latitudes favoring equator-facing slopes. These times and places have peak surface temperatures from about 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to 80 degree above zero Fahrenheit (about 250 to 300 Kelvin). Liquid brines near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact mechanism and source of the water are not understood.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of ArizThis series of images shows warm-season features that might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today. Evidence for that possible interpretation is presented in a report by McEwen et al. in the Aug. 5, 2011, edition of Science.These images come from observations of a steep crater slope in the Terra Cimmeria region of Mars, at 38.8 degrees south latitude, 159.5 degrees east longitude, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. In time, the series spans from the end of summer of one Mars year to mid-summer of two years later. The images taken from oblique angles have been adjusted so that all steps in the sequence show the scene as if viewed from directly overhead.The features that extend down the slope during warm seasons are called recurring slope lineae. They are narrow (one-half to five yards or meters wide), relatively dark markings on steep (25 to 40 degree) slopes at several southern hemisphere locations. Repeat imaging by HiRISE shows the features appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. They extend downslope from bedrock outcrops, often associated with small channels, and hundreds of them form in rare locations. They appear and lengthen in the southern spring and summer from 48 degrees to 32 degrees south latitudes favoring equator-facing slopes. These times and places have peak surface temperatures from about 10 degrees below zero Fahrenheit to 80 degree above zero Fahrenheit (about 250 to 300 Kelvin). Liquid brines near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact mechanism and source of the water are not understood.NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of ArizThis image contrasts gullies and recurring warm-season slope flows appearing in the same crater, in the middle southern latitudes of Mars. It was taken Nov. 27, 2007, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.Gullies are on the pole-facing slope, which is on the northern side of this crater (upper arrow). Recurrent warm-season flows are on the equator-facing wall (lower arrow).Gullies are typically much larger than the warm-season flows. As seen in this crater, gullies have a typical range of features including alcoves, channels and aprons.The flow features are narrow (one-half to five yards or meters wide), relatively dark markings on steep (25 to 40 degree) slopes at a few other southern hemisphere locations. Repeat imaging by HiRISE shows the features appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. Sequences of observations recording the seasonal changes in these flows might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today.NASA/JPL-Caltech/University ofThis image shows warm-season flows on a north-facing slope in middle southern latitudes of Mars. It was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on June 24, 2011. The season was summer in Mars' southern hemisphere.The flow features are narrow (one-half to five yards or meters wide), relatively dark markings on steep (25 to 40 degree) slopes at a few other southern hemisphere locations. Repeat imaging by HiRISE shows the features appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons. Sequences of observations recording the seasonal changes in these flows might be evidence of salty liquid water active on Mars today.NASA/JPL-Caltech/University ofThis back and forth comparison shows changes that occurred in a gully on a south-facing slope in middle southern latitudes of Mars. Such changes in gullies on Mars, unlike changes in a recently discovered class of active slope features, have not been linked to warm seasons.Both images in this pair were taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, one on June 24, 2011, the other on July 29, 2009. In the later image, darkening of ground is visible near the tip of the gully in the lower left corner. The site is at 38.8 degrees south latitude, 159.5 degrees east longitude.The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates the HiRISE camera, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, is the spacecraft development and integration contractor for the project and built the spacecraft.NASA/JPL-Caltech/University ofWater flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater are shown in this combination of orbital imagery with 3-D modeling in this NASA handout photo released to Reuters August 4, 2011.Reuters
