The intense white area of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. Is there water on Mars? On Mars, its really water ice and CO2 ice mixed with each other. We even have water in the atmosphere as a water vapor. And the last state of prospective state of water is, do we have liquid water on Mars?
The intense white area of this image shows the icy cap that covers Mars south pole, composed of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. ESAs Mars Express imaged this location of Mars on December 17, 2012, in infrared, green and blue light, utilizing its High Resolution Stereo Camera. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Bill Dunford
Is there water on Mars? There sure is! Its not exactly like water on Earth but Martian H20 can tell us a lot about the planets distant past while possibly aiding explorers in the future. A few of the water is even trapped inside rocks! Speak with Mars researcher Eva Scheller who assisted make that discovery using NASA data.
The brief response is yes. Now, we have to believe about, how do we actually specify water? Its not quite like on Earth, but its absolutely there. Water is a particle that has one oxygen atom and 2 hydrogen atoms. The ice on Mars is a bit various than on Earth.
On Mars, its actually water ice and CO2 ice mixed with each other. We even have water in the atmosphere as a water vapor.
We also have water inside of rocks. So, you can consider rocks as sort of a stack of layers and often theres water trapped in between those layers. Weve in fact measured this with a lot of the different objectives from NASA and thats really what I study. And the last state of possible state of water is, do we have liquid water on Mars? The answer is we have not actually observed it. We do see these dark streaks on some hillsides that we call repeating slope lineae.
One concept is that these slope lineae could be formed by the flow of liquid water. But theres likewise other concepts where you in fact dont need liquid water to describe the formation of these dark streaks. Perhaps they might form through sand circulation or that example.
So, is there water on Mars? Not quite like the oceans we understand on Earth, but its absolutely there.
