Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Prerequisites for liquid water on Mars – Swedish Radio

There may have been new signs that there is liquid water on Mars. It’s about a discovery made using instruments aboard NASA’s rymdbil Curiosity.

The explanation is that there are salts in the Mars surface, called perchlorates, which can take up water vapor from the atmosphere and form a salt solution that does not freeze when the water tends to freeze.

– We already knew that there is frozen water in the form of ice on Mars, and that there is water in the gaseous form of water vapor in the atmosphere. But so far, no one has found anything liquid water, says Javier Martin-Toress professor of atmospheric science at Luleå University.

But now describes his research in an article in the journal Nature Geoscience, how it seems sufficient conditions for liquid water in the top layer of Mars surface, even though the temperature is much lower than when the water is usually freeze.

To the right conditions exist for this would work, although researchers have not seen the water itself.

The possibility of liquid water is of interest to anyone looking for life on other sites than the Earth. But one should not hope for much in this case, according to Javier Martin-Torres. He says that in all cases the forms of life as we know it should for example be way too cold to survive in these salt solutions.

References: F. Javier Martín-Torres et al. “Transient liquid water and water activity at Gale Crater on Mars.” Nature Geoscience April 13th 2015. DOI: 10.1038 / NGEO2412

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