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Mostly Mute Monday: Water On Mars

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Travel the universe with Dr. Ethan Siegel as he answers the biggest questions of all

The evidence is there, and sometimes a set of pictures can show you better than words could ever tell.

“If I want water, I’ll have to make it from scratch. Fortunately, I know the recipe: Take hydrogen. Add oxygen. Burn.” –Andy Weir

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, Mars Curiosity Rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, Mars Curiosity Rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS, Mars Opportunity Rover.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Ken Kremer / Marco Di Lorenzo, of Mars Curiosity’s encounter with Mount Remarkable.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS, Mars Curiosity Rover.
Image credit: NASA, of Mars Meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, over 2 billion years old and incredibly water-rich.
Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Max Planck Institute / Spaceflight / Marco Di Lorenzo, Kenneth Kremer / Phoenix Lander.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS, Mars Opportunity Rover.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS, Mars Opportunity Rover.
Image credit: NASA / Mars Global Surveyor.
Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum).
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona, Mars Odyssey / THEMIS.

Last month, NASA made one of the most anticipated announcements in history: we’ve confirmed the discovery of liquid water on Mars. Not only did the red planet have a watery past, leaving us with a number of distinctive features that could only arise from liquid flowing on its surface, including:

  • dried-up riverbeds, including some with oxbow bends,
  • martian spherules (or blueberries),
  • dozens of layers of sedimentary rock,
  • canyons that show evidence of being formed by water-based erosion,
  • and frozen lakes, icecaps and sub-surface ice,

but the detailed, recent observations of recurring slope lineae teach us that liquid exists there today.

These “gullies” that form are seen to be actively growing, and don’t come about from landslides, avalanches or dust flow. Instead, our orbiters teach us that the lineae have perchlorate salt deposits in them, evidence that liquid water dissolves them and flows there, sublimates/evaporates, and leaves them behind.

This find-of-a-lifetime opens up the possibility for current life on Mars, something I spoke about on TV last week. I’ll be recording Starts With A Bang’s first Patreon-sponsored podcast on this topic, which supporters get early access to, so ask your water-on-Mars questions!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Reuters.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona / Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona via Getty Images.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona / Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, of a color-enhanced view inside Newton Crater.

Mostly Mute Monday tells the story of a single astronomical phenomenon or object in visuals, images, video and no more than 200 words.

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