THE LATEST BREAKTHROUGH ON THE MARS MISSION RECENTLY BY THE MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER REVEALED SEASONAL WATER FLOWS ON MARS. EVIDENCE OF ACTIVE LIQUID WATER IN THE GROUD OF THE RED PLANET WAS FINALLY UNEARTHED.
3. This image has been reprojected to show a view of a slope as it would be seen from a helicopter inside the crater, with a synthetic Mars-like sky. The source observation was made May 30, 2011, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Color has been enhanced. The season was summer at the location, 41.6 degrees south latitude, 202.3 degrees east longitude. Sequences of observations recording the seasonal changes at this site and a few others with similar flows 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. The flow features 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. ► See more This image shows flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Mars' Newton crater. Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona Reference: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia14479.html
5. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISEis operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and the instrument was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft.Â
7. REPORTSeasonal Flows on Warm Martian SlopesScience 5 August 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6043 pp. 740-743 DOI: 10.1126/science.1204816 Water probably flowed across ancient Mars, but whether it ever exists as a liquid on the surface today remains debatable. Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are narrow (0.5 to 5 meters), relatively dark markings on steep (25° to 40°) slopes; repeat images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment show them to 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 some rare locations. RSL appear and lengthen in the late southern spring and summer from 48°S to 32°S latitudes favoring equator-facing slopes, which are times and places with peak surface temperatures from ~250 to 300 kelvin. Liquid brines near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact mechanism and source of water are not understood. (McEwen, et. al. ,2011)
8. Discovery news Time line The legend on each image gives the exact HiRISE observation number (e.g. ESP_011428_1380 for the first image). The legend also marks the Mars year and seasonal identifier (Ls) for each image. The Mars years begin with the first years of Mars exploration by robot spacecraft. This sequence includes images from Mars Year 29 and Mars Year 30. Ls stands for longitude of the sun, dividing the year into 360 degrees to mark the seasons. Ls = 180 is the beginning of southern spring, Ls = 270 is the beginning of southern summer, and Ls = 360 (or 0) is the beginning of southern autumn. Reference: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia14472.html
9. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/UA/LANL/MSSS Blue, at high latitudes north and south, indicates higher concentrations of water ice (deduced from detection of hydrogen). 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. 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 chloride based on observations by the Thermal Emission Imaging System on Mars Odyssey. Such salt deposits could have resulted from evaporation of salty water. Orange designates lowest concentrations. Some hydrogen, possibly in the form of bound water, is close to the surface even at middle latitudes. 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. Reference: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/pia14470.html
10. ABcnEWS 2008 - Phoenix Mars Lander confirmed frozen water on Mars It sparked the hope on the possibilities of life in Mars
13. …MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER REVEALED SEASONAL WATER FLOWS ON MARS. EVIDENCE OF ACTIVE LIQUID WATER IN THE GROUD OF THE RED PLANET WAS FINALLY DISCOVERED.