Over the weekend, NASA teased about a "major announcement" regarding a Mars finding. Monday came and the announcement didn't disappoint.
According to CNN, "potentially life-giving water still flows [...] from time to time" on the surface of the Red Planet, as NASA scientists announced on Monday.
The discovery has yet to indicate if any other form of life has lived in Mars, but it does give hope that the Earth's cousin could host humans living in it.
"The existence of liquid water, even if it is super salty briny water, gives the possibility that if there's life on Mars, that we have a way to describe how it might survive," explained NASA associate administration for the Science Mission Directorate John Grunsfeld.
NASA researchers used an imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to confirm speculations of the presence of water on Mars. Light waves emitted showed dark streaks on the surface of the Red Planet, which are thought to be markings from liquid water.
CNN aptly describes the report:
"The investigation showed the streaks absorb light at specific wavelengths associated with chemicals known to pull water from the Martian atmosphere in a process known as deliquescence, said Georgia Tech doctoral student Lujendra Ojha, who first discovered the streaks while still an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona in 2011."
Researchers said that these very chemicals allow the water to stay at a liquid state in lower temperatures (like that of Mars), but at the same time, helps keep it from being boiled off from the thin Mars atmosphere.
NASA's Mars announcement may be flowing water - CNN.com
However, the source of the water is still unknown. Lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program Michael Meyer says that the discovery for this very phenomenon is a mystery for the next bout of investigations.
It seems as though NASA could be right about sending the first humans on Mars in 2030!
