The possible discovery of water on the planet Mars was led by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology, according to a post on the Georgia Tech News Center blog.
Lujendra Ojha, the Georgia Tech Ph.D. candidate who led the study, first noticed water-related streaks on the red planet by using instruments on board NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Ojha says spectral signatures of hydrated salts were visible in many images.
“Something is hydrating these salts, and it appears to be these streaks that come and go with the seasons,” said Ojha. “This means the water on Mars is briny, rather than pure. It makes sense because salts lower the freezing point of water. Even if RSL are slightly underground, where it’s even colder than the surface temperature, the salts would keep the water in a liquid form and allow it to creep down Martian slopes.”
