Discovery of water on Red planet
Mars has been a primary focus due to its nearness and fascinating similarities to Earth among the celestial bodies in our solar system. The mission to find extraterrestrial life has extended driven scientific investigation beyond Earth. As we know it, for decades, scientists have speculated about the possibility of water on Mars, a key element for life. However, the recent announcement made by NASA confirming the discovery of liquid water on Mars symbolizes an important ground-breaking in our consideration of the Red Planet. Therefore, it opens up new paths for exploration, possible colonization, and the exploration of life.
In the early mission to Mars, scientists found evidence of water flows and the polar ice caps, but the recent findings have shifted the focus towards the possible existence of subsurface water reservoirs, and water on Mars has been the key element to be discussed. However, it helps to understand the hidden aquifers that could hold the key to understanding Mars’ climatic history, forecasts for future human settlement and the possibility of life.
The Search for Water on Mars: A Historical Perspective
As we know, from ancient times until the 19th and 20th centuries, it was not possible to know more about the planet Mars due to the lack of technological advancement. However, scientists have puzzled over Mars’ water history for decades. By ancient river valleys, lakebeds, and drainage channels, the planet Mars’s surface is marked, which indicates that the water once flowed freely on this planet, and there is a chance that water on Mars is possible.
However, these features were later created to be optical illusions. Moreover, to support stable liquid water on the surface, the current Martian climate is cold and dry, with atmospheric pressures that are too low. Therefore, this raises the question: where did all the water go?
In the 1960s, the modern era of the Mars survey began with the mariner mission, which provided the first detailed images of the extra-terrestrial surface. These missions exposed a barren, cratered scenery with no clear signs of liquid water. However, they also presented signs of early river valleys and drainage channels, signifying that water may have once flowed on the planet. However, the most important advance came in 2018, when researchers using the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter discovered a subsurface lake beneath the planet’s south polar ice cap. This finding is the first direct sign of a stable water reservoir on Mars, flashing renewed interest in the exploration of more such reservoirs across the planet.
NASA’s Recent Discovery: Liquid Water on Mars
Recently NASA has announced a major leap forward in our understanding of Mars by using the information from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). However, in recurring slope lineae (RSL) researchers have identified hydrated salts on the planet’s surface. Since their discovery, these dark lines appear seasonally on Martian slopes and have been a topic of interest. Moreover, these streaks are formed by liquid water as it strongly indicates the hydrated salts that are present in it.
The key to this discovery lies in the spectrometric analysis, which is directed by the MRO’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM). However, in the presence of water, this instrument identified signatures of minerals that can only form, precisely perchlorates. Perchlorates are a kind of salt known to lessen the freezing point of water, letting it endure liquid under the cold situations on Mars. Therefore, the existence of these salts recommends that liquid water is leaking to the surface, although in small amounts.
Implications for the Search for Life
In the search for extraterrestrial life, the discovery of liquid water on Mars is a game-changer. As we know, water is a fundamental requirement for life. The existence of liquid water raises the probability that microbial life could exist, or may have once occurred, on Mars. There are a lot of places on Earth where life can persist in harsh conditions similar to those on Mars. The various examples are deep-sea hydrothermal vents, acidic lakes, and the subglacial lakes of Antarctica.
In these places, the organisms found were previously thought to be uninhabitable. As the discovery of the perchlorates, the presence on Mars also raises fascinating possibilities. However, some microbes have evolved to use them as an energy source, and these salts are poisonous to most of Earth’s life. Therefore, the discovery of perchlorates in extra-terrestrial water opens up the opportunity for similar microbial life to exist on Mars, altered to its unique situations.
Challenges and Considerations for Future Exploration
As we know, the discovery of water on Mars is exciting, but it also presents important challenges for future examination. The need to avoid contamination of Mars with Earth-based creatures is one of the primary concerns, as well as planetary protection. As the water is located deep beneath the surface under a thick layer of ice and rock, drilling into these surfaces and taking samples of it requires advanced technology, which has not yet been developed for the space mission. Moreover, polluting a possible Martian biosphere with Earth creatures would not only compromise scientific integrity but could also have unexpected environmental concerns.
Another challenge is retrieving the liquid water itself. As the RSLs are situated in steep, unreachable areas, the water is likely to be salty, with a high absorption of salts. Therefore, extracting and examining this water will require progressive robotics and new machinery that can function in the tough Martian environment.
Potential for Human Colonization
For the long-term goal of human settlement, the discovery of liquid water on Mars also has consequences. As we know, for sustaining human life, water is a critical resource, and the discovery of available sources on Mars would be a main step towards founding an everlasting human presence on the planet. It has also been analysed that the water on Mars is used for various purposes like agriculture, drinking and potentially as bases of oxygen and hydrogen through electrolysis.
To transport large quantities of water from Earth, the ability to produce water on Mars would reduce the need, which makes long-term missions more possible. However, experiments in accessing and cleansing this water remain important. The high salt content means that any water removed would need to be purified before humans could use it. Additionally, the occurrence of perchlorates increases concerns about poisonousness and careful thought of how to make the water harmless for human feeding.
Future Missions and Research
As the discovery of liquid water on Mars has accelerated, the plans for the future mission focused on the preparation for human exploration and search for life. Moreover, there are various missions that are upcoming like the European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover and the Mars Sample Return mission, which will play an important role in exploring the environment of the Martian. As these two missions are coming up, the Mars Sample Return mission is a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Its aim is to bring all the samples of the soil and the rock of the Martian to Earth for detailed analysis. On the composition of Martian water sources, this mission will provide critical data and the potential for life. Similarly, the next mission of ExoMars rovers is scheduled to launch in the future. Its aim is to develop equipment that can drill the surface up to two meters to collect the sample from it. It will help scientists study subsurface environments that have been shielded from harsh surface conditions. In addition to these missions, the investigation of Earth will continue to focus on similar environments that look like Mars.
