NASA has found evidence of liquid water on Mars. Water ice, dust, solid carbon dioxide

> > > Water on Mars

Whether there is a liquid water on Mars: where to look for water on the surface of the planet. Space exploration, lakes and glaciers, craters and the history of Mars with photos.

There may still be liquid water on the surface of Mars, but it is difficult to find. The search for water began more than 15 years ago and now we have evidence in favor of its presence on the Red Planet. But previously it covered large areas. Where have the water supplies gone? And how many more are there?

Analyzes show that the ancient surface had rivers and lakes. Even millions of years ago, Mars was warmer and wetter, and could also support microbial life. But gradually the water evaporated along with most of the atmospheric layer.

Where is water on Mars now?

Liquid water must flow from steep, warm slopes on the Martian surface. The first was found in 2011, where hints of a salty liquid were confirmed. Photos of Mars showed dark streaks appearing as the seasons change. Spectral analysis said that they were formed by salty liquid water. Below is a map of Mars with water distribution.

Huge water reserves are encased in ice fragments and located at the planetary poles. These caps shrink because the water goes directly from the ice form to the gas form, but in winter it transforms back. The caps extend for 3 km and can completely cover the surface by 5.6 m.

Mars' frozen water also lurks beneath the surface between the equatorial line and the north pole. But you can search in other territories. Mars Express was able to take pictures of ice plates submerged at the bottom of craters, which means water can accumulate under certain conditions.

Water traces were discovered back in 2000. These were ravines of water origin.

Finding a water oasis on Mars

In 1971, Mariner 9 was the first to orbit an alien world. His photographs showed riverbeds and canyons through which water had flowed in the past. Footage from the Viking also spoke in favor of the water theory.

In the early 90s. we have been inundated with information about Mars sent from NASA and ESA. Some vehicles have encountered minerals, subsurface ice and even hot springs.

Craters affect the interior of the planet. It turns out that water circulation took place at a depth of several kilometers approximately 3.7 billion years ago. More information was obtained during the landing of the rovers.

The probes not only studied the rock, but also conducted various experiments. In 2008, Phoenix noticed fragments of bright material that disappeared after 4 days. He also tracked the water vapor in the sample.

Spirit and Opportunity found water tracks in the rock. The latter landed in 2012 and was traveling through the ancient territory when he examined a number of interesting stones. But the planet itself is not the only field for studying Martian water. There also remain meteorites that came to us from the Red Planet.

Historical reliefs

The missions also studied the planetary surface. The flatter plains could accommodate the ocean, and when the first signs of drought came, it split into two.

The Curiosity rover found that Mount Aeolis was created by sedimentary deposits, which means that basins existed on the planet for a long time. In our case, the soil near rivers and lakes is much softer and wetter. It is represented mainly by clay. The same thing is noticed on Mars.

Water seems familiar to us because it covers most of the planet. But in the cosmic confines it is a precious gift that is hunted for, because it is a hint of possible life.

Of course, life on Mars could have developed in other liquids, but we only have information about water. Therefore, scientists hope that with the discovery of water on Mars, we will also discover ancient life.

The news that NASA found water on Mars spread around the world and became the main story within a day. After the excitement died down, many became interested in what exactly this meant. We decided to figure out what kind of water it is, how much there is on the red planet, and what can be done with it next.

Is this really water?

The first signs of water on Mars were found five years ago, but there was no evidence of their reliability. The chemical composition of the find could not be determined either. However, NASA researchers have now been able to combine images taken by the orbital HiRISE camera and spectral soil analysis taken by the CRISM apparatus. It worked. Now we know that the dark streaks that seem to flow down the slopes of Mars are seasonal and appear annually. Spectral analysis confirmed that the soil in these places is filled with hydrated salts. What does it mean? This means that salty water flowed along the soil of the red planet and then evaporated.

When the first suspicions about the presence of water on Mars arose five years ago, scientists could not find evidence of their hypotheses. We learned only now that water appears every season, after long-term observations of the surface of Mars. Previously, there were no resources to study both the soil and the appearance of the planet. Now there are enough instruments and collected information to draw the first conclusions.

How much water exactly is there on Mars?

Of course, everyone is interested in exactly how much water NASA found on Mars. Agency specialists clarify: we are talking about small flows. It's like when you don't turn off the kitchen faucet properly or one of your pipes starts leaking. There is no point in waiting for Niagara Falls on Mars - there are no prerequisites for this.

Is there life on Mars?

The main question that many may also ask is: is there life in this water? But it is difficult to answer for several reasons. For example, the Curiosity rover cannot be sent to the places where it occurs. A small robot simply doesn't have the tools to detect life on the red planet. NASA calls further exploration of the surface as the next step. The space agency has detailed photo and video information about about three percent of the planet's surface. This data is now being studied to find even more “wet” places on Mars.

Is it possible to send people to Mars to study water?

To explore the dark stripes on the surface of the red planet, NASA specialists will have to get very creative. On the path to discovery, many obstacles await us, including insufficient development of science, bureaucracy, and difficulties in carrying out missions. For example, the optimal way out of the situation would be an expedition to the red planet - and the person would study everything thoroughly himself. John Grunsfeld, chief of science missions at NASA, said he would like to send a team of astrobiologists to Mars, but that is not yet possible. The visit of people to the neighboring planet is planned for the 2030s, so for now no one will put their hands in the Martian waters.

Okay, why don't they send a robot?

There is the Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by the USA, Great Britain and the USSR. It specifically states the inadmissibility of contaminating celestial bodies with terrestrial bacteria. This is classified as "harmful contamination" of other worlds with organic matter from Earth. Therefore, every spacecraft that is sent from our planet into space undergoes thorough cleaning. Microbes are subjected to drying, chemical treatment, ultraviolet radiation, and so on. It would seem that this is enough to be sure that the ship is in perfect order, but mistakes constantly happen again and again. For example, the Curiosity rover began its work on the red planet with 65 bacteria on board.

Because we cannot get rid of "fellow travelers" on board spacecraft, the Committee on Space Exploration has detailed regions on Mars that should be considered potentially habitable. All spacecraft (and humans, should that happen) should avoid these areas of the red planet unless their equipment is guaranteed to be squeaky clean. Otherwise, we risk infecting Mars with microbes from Earth and thereby compromising the purity of the experiment.

Unfortunately, the 2020 rover, which could be the next robot suitable for searching for life on Mars, does not meet the Committee's conditions. Its design includes a heat generator, which means the device can heat Martian water. If there are at least a couple of microbes from Earth on the robot's body, they can take root on Mars, finding themselves in a warm and humid environment.

In general, it is possible to make a spaceship perfectly clean. And design it so that it does not heat the space around it, too. But it costs so much that even the world's largest space agency is tightening its belt. It is not yet clear where the funds for such a mission will come from.

On the surface of Mars. They discovered entire rivers on the Red Planet. True, the water in them is not fresh, like in earthly ones, but salty. And Martian bodies of water are a seasonal phenomenon. They appear in warm weather and disappear with the onset of cold weather.

“Unraveling the Martian Mystery” is a more than ambitious title for the press conference. But NASA planetary scientists have no doubt in their abilities and conclusions: there is water on the Red Planet. Or at least streams of salty liquid similar to water. Which means life is just around the corner.

“We observe spectroscopic traces of perchlorates, which are fairly moistened with water,” says Luhendra Ojha, an astronomer. “In these perchlorates you can see salt crystals containing water molecules. This is hydrated salt.”

Just that? Even the authors of the discovery cannot yet give an answer. Perhaps it condenses from the atmosphere. Or there is ice under the surface of the planet or some common source of water, the nature of which is still a mystery. And it’s too early to rush to conclusions about extraterrestrial life, experts say.

“The question remains as to how much such water could preserve life in itself,” says Dmitry Vibe, astronomer, head of the department of physics and evolution of stars at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “This water is very salty. Mars is a very cold planet, and so that water could survive If it is in a liquid state, it must contain a very large amount of chlorine salts."

“The presence of water on the planet is a necessary but not sufficient condition to talk about the presence of life on the planet,” says Oleg Malkov, head of the department of Physics of Stellar Systems, professor at Moscow State University. “Oxygen and methane should be observed in the atmosphere, that is, traces of this life. Here, however, we are using a not very correct technique. We assume that the Martian civilization should be similar to ours."

American business seems to have no doubt about the suitability of Mars for life and is presenting to the general public “sensational” projects for the colonization of the Red Planet. Energy engineer Bars Landorp, for example, proposes populating Mars with earthlings as early as 2026, and the eccentric billionaire, Tesla owner Elon Musk, has put forward a completely radical plan - to detonate a thermonuclear bomb so that the planet becomes warmer, and then immediately resettle.

But the experts managed to find their own pattern in this story: the closer to the elections, the more unrealistic the project. This means that there are even more sensations ahead: after all, the US presidential elections are just around the corner.

In a liquid state, water cannot remain on the surface of Mars for a long time - this is due to low atmospheric pressure (on average 6 mbar; pressure on Earth is about 1000 mbar). The only form of water definitely found on Mars is water vapor in the atmosphere. It seems, however, beyond doubt that its solid phase is present on the surface, in the atmosphere, and also in the soil. In principle, it is also possible that there is liquid groundwater with a high content of salts and perchlorates, which lowers its freezing point. Such areas could be discovered from observations by the Mars probe MRO.

Water vapor distribution

The study of the geographic distribution of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere and the seasonal variations of this salty water is of interest from the point of view of the prospects for the search for life on Mars.

Through telescopic observations from Earth, it was determined that the average water vapor content on the planet is very small - from 10 to 50 microns of precipitated water (on Earth about 10 mm, that is, 200-1000 times more). The flight of the first artificial satellites to Mars made it possible to study the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere in much greater detail than is possible with ground-based methods. Experiments carried out from orbital stations have shown that the amount of water is several times less than could be predicted based on earthly observations. Since the measurements were taken immediately after a large dust storm, it was suggested that the absence of the expected seasonal maximum in water vapor was due to this phenomenon. Significant spatial variations in its distribution were found. In areas located only a few hundred kilometers apart from each other, the water content in the atmosphere varies by two to three times. The highest humidity was noted to the west of the rugged terrain in the Araks region.

Measurements

The measurements showed a seasonal maximum humidity predicted from ground-based observations for the spring of the northern hemisphere. All this increases the likelihood of a connection between low humidity and a dust storm, which is what was observed. Significant geographical variations observed over relatively small areas can be explained by two groups of reasons. Firstly, these are meteorological phenomena (condensation and sublimation), and, secondly, phenomena associated with local sources of water vapor, including volcanic activity. A thorough analysis of data on the geological nature of the planet's surface will be necessary before it can be said which of these causes is more likely.

Scientists have little doubt that there was water on Mars for many millions of years. Now the scientific community is interested in another interesting question: is there any remnants of liquid water on the planet at the moment? It would seem that the temperature on Mars is much below zero, liquid water cannot be on the surface, but scientists have found interesting data.

Now there is something like an ice age on the red planet, ominous permafrost reigns on the surface. But researchers have long assumed that many millions of years ago, Mars had favorable conditions for storing liquid water, the climate was wetter, and temperatures were higher. The Curiosity research apparatus, which is currently studying, has found a curious type of salt in the soil of Mars. This substance can melt frozen water when it interacts with it.

Scientists decided to conduct an experiment and test their hypothesis about liquid water on Mars. To do this, the temperature was set on special equipment to about -100 degrees Celsius, and the water instantly froze. After that, a little salty Martian soil was sprinkled on the liquid and at a temperature of 73 degrees, traces of liquid water appeared on the ice! This experiment led scientists to the idea that areas on Mars may periodically appear where there will be liquid water even at very high temperatures.

The search for liquid water on Mars

But this theory also has opponents. A team of NASA researchers, after carefully analyzing images of the surface of Mars, concluded that the traces of "river beds" that can be seen from above were not formed due to flows of water sometime in the past, but due to the glaciation of carbon dioxide.

Over their long life, these “river channels” often changed their shape and direction. NASA experts are confident that liquid water cannot exist at temperatures up to -100 degrees, but carbon dioxide may well crystallize from gas in such conditions. Experts believe that the theory of liquid water, which was popular among many scientists, is wrong.

However, the conclusions drawn are not 100% correct. Different groups of scientists conduct their independent research and sometimes come to very interesting conclusions. Researchers from the Jet Propulsion Institute, for example, reported that there was liquid water on Mars almost four billion years ago. A large lake (freshwater) was located in the crater of the Gale volcano. These assumptions were confirmed by the Curiosity research apparatus.