Martian Water...

These dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. The blue color seen upslope of the dark streaks are thought not to be related to their formation, but instead are from the presence of the mineral pyroxene. The image is produced by draping an orthorectified (Infrared-Red-Blue/Green(IRB)) false color image (ESP_030570_1440) on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) of the same site produced by High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (University of Arizona). Vertical exaggeration is 1.5.

Credits: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Topics: Exoplanets, Humor, Mars, NASA, Space Exploration

If you do a search on this blog using Mars in the upper left-hand corner (next to the magnifying glass), you'll see a lot of posts on this site regarding past announcements from NASA regarding microbes, water and possible (previous) life on Mars.

Then there was this yesterday: the usual breathless, bloviating hyperbole from a rube that couldn't even pass ballroom dancing; that actually has a rapidly graying, dwindling audience listening to his slobbering drivel, spouting an even more warped conspiracy provocation (than usual). Mixing Oxycontin and Viagra: it's such a dangerous thing...

New findings from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water -- albeit briny -- is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today’s Mars
Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo