NASA Orbiter may reveal liquid water on Mars

PDF versionPDF version

September 28, 2015

Liquid water may flow intermittently on Mars. In a recent mission, NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) used an imaging spectrometer to detect chemical signatures of hydrated salts concentrated in dark streaks along slopes on Mars’s surface.

NASA reported that these streaks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), could be related to flowing water, or in this case, flowing liquid brine. The salts could lower the freezing point of the brines, allowing for liquid water to flow. The Orbiter also showed that the RSL darken and lighten in color over time, indicating that these shallow subsurface flows may be seasonally controlled; the streaks darken as the water flows closer to the surface.

Sources: nasa.gov