• Question: Is it true that people found traces of water on Mars?

    Asked by Katie on 20 Jan 2020.
    • Photo: Stephen Durrant

      Stephen Durrant answered on 20 Jan 2020:

      Yes, It’s true data from Orbiting satellites have detected water on Mars. Which is one of the reasons we want to go to Mars with ExoMars to drill below the surface to look for specific signs of Extinct or Extant (living) life.

    • Photo: John Bridges

      John Bridges answered on 20 Jan 2020:

      Dear Katie
      A few years ago a radar instrument SHARAD team described evidence for a buried aquifer of water near the martian north polar region. At depth, temperatures (and pressure) rise meaning that water, perhaps as pore fluid, might be stable.
      There has been a lot of discussion about gullies on pole-facing slopes in relation to water. Some think that transient brines may have formed them. However, that is controversial because the atmospheric pressure on present day Mars and temperatures (mainly less than -60 degrees centigrade) mean that liquid water is not stable.
      There is much stronger evidence for ancient water on Mars – we found the sediments deposited in an ancient (3.8 billion year old) lake in Gale Crater with the Curiosity Rover. Similarly that is why we are going to Oxia Planum with ExoMars.
      Professor John Bridges

    • Photo: Abbie Hutty

      Abbie Hutty answered on 20 Feb 2020:

      Yes they have.

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