NASA Finds Fresh Evidence of Water on Mars

NASA says it has found new evidence of water below the surface of Mars.

Scientists studying the composition of the ground near where a Mars exploration rover got stuck found evidence that water had seeped through the ground, dissolving and carrying away certain minerals. The water may have come from melted snow or ice.

There is lots of evidence that there was once liquid water on Mars, including dried-up lake beds and valleys. But these were formed more than a billion years ago.

The new study is the first sign of the presence of liquid water in more recent times.

"This is a process that's ongoing; it's not an ancient process," Ray Arvidson, deputy principal investigator for the Mars rovers, told AOL News.


The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit got stuck in April 2009, with its left wheels breaking through a crust and into soft sand below.

The presence of liquid water on Mars could be useful for any potential colonists. Pete Worden, NASA Ames Research Center director, recently introduced a project to embark on a one-way mission from Earth to Mars by 2030 and permanently settle the red planet. The project is called the Hundred Year Starship initiative.

"The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds," Worden said. "Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars and get fired."

Earth's neighbor is the fourth planet in the solar system from the sun and has long been thought the most likely candidate to support life. A NASA probe previously discovered a large amount of ice at the south pole of Mars.

Still, the new discovery is far from conclusive evidence that Mars could support life. The changes in the soil point toward tiny droplets of water, rather than rivers or oceans.

"Liquid water and life kind of go together," Arvidson said. But "it's got to be a very tough life" to survive in such a small amount of water.