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10 Mars Liquid Water Discovery Facts – WMNews Ep. 48


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Mars is not the dry arid planet that we
thought of in the past we are not alone
it’s a tag line to many movies but nASA
has taken another small step towards
proving it to be an indisputable truth
welcome to watchmojo.com –nt we’re
counting down ten crucial facts you
should know about the Mars liquid water
discovery liftoff
number 10 what was the discovery after
years of research and experimentation
scientists confirmed the presence of
liquid water on the surface of
present-day Mars at the end of September
2015 under certain circumstances liquid
water has been found on Mars it had long
been assumed that Mars retains a certain
amount of water within itself in its ice
and soil and there are numerous
arguments for the existence of liquid
water in its history
however in 2015 scientists were able to
conclusively say that flowing water is a
modern-day reality naturally the advance
further fueled speculation that Mars
could host some form of life number 9
where did this water come from
the discovery centers on a series of
dark streaks visible on the planet’s
surface which disappear and reappear
with the seasons the streaks dubbed
recurring slope lineae or RSL are now
thought to be the product of a surface
flow of extremely salty brine which
evaporates and leaves behind a salty
deposit however the origin of that
liquid is still unknown basic reasoning
says that it either comes from above
from a near surface atmosphere much more
humid than first thought or from below
from underground stores of water frozen
during winter thawed during summer and
seeping to the surface
number eight is Mars similar to earth
the very fact that Mars has an axial
tilt of twenty-five point two degrees
and is therefore subject to seasons is
evidence that it is similar to earth the
planet is 50 percent farther from the
Sun than us but it does have polar
icecaps
and there’s evidence that water has
played a part in its geological
evolution although it’s not believed to
have had as predominant a role as it has
on earth in terms of temperature Mars is
a lot colder than our planet averaging
around minus 67 degrees Fahrenheit and
ranging between minus 207 degrees
Fahrenheit and 80 degrees Fahrenheit
depending on the location and season and
Martian atmospheric pressure is
considerably lower than Earth’s the
conditions on Mars may be similar to
those of an early Earth so any advance
made in the search for Martian life
could also impact the understanding of
history of life on our own planet number
seven has there been life on Mars to
date there is no conclusive evidence
showing that Mars has ever been
inhabited however as scientific
knowledge surrounding the planet grows
there is an increasing belief that Mars
was once at least habitable in 1996 much
scientific and media hysteria surrounded
the discovery of a Martian meteorite in
Antarctica within which some scientists
claimed was fossilized proof of past
life on Mars those claims have since
been brought into question but recent
surveys indicate that around 3/4 of the
space research community believes that
life has existed on Mars at some point
in history number 6 is there currently
life on Mars
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again to date there’s no conclusive
evidence that life as we know it exists
on Mars currently the recent discovery
surrounding surface water further
enhanced the possibility of life but
living proof is still not available
future missions are likely to focus
beneath the surface of the planet as
it’s widely believed to be possible that
life could exist within Mars’s extremely
harsh radioactive surface conditions so
far small areas a few meters underground
have been briefly explored but there’s a
long-term goal to go deeper into the
planet’s subsurface number 5 can NASA
explore the water until now recurring
slope lineae research has been conducted
from afar with images provided by the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter although
there currently exists Rover machines on
the surface of Mars collecting data nASA
has no immediate plans to get closer to
the salty deposits the main reason being
that they fear cross contamination
current machines have not been baked or
sterilized and subsequently may still
carry earth microbes which might present
a toxic danger to Martian water there
isn’t a scheduled launch to Mars in the
near future that will be any cleaner
meaning it could be decades before
contact is actually made with the water
number 4 when will humans be able to go
to Mars according to NASA the
capabilities to send human beings to
Mars should emerge by the 2030s before
then by 2025 it’s hoped that humans will
have been sent to an asteroid in general
however the Space Agency is placing
optimum importance upon the eventual
goal of human exploration on Mars the
fleet of surface Rovers and robotic
spacecraft that have already been sent
are helping experts build an extensive
understanding of Martian conditions that
understanding provides a basis for
technological advancement on earth
aiming to protect future astronauts and
eventually enabling them to live on work
and
report from the planet number three have
there been any other recent planetary
discoveries 2015 has proven an
especially successful year in terms of
space exploration in July the discovery
of kepler 452b around 1,400 light-years
away from us was announced it’s already
been dubbed earth 2.0 because of the
striking similarities it shares with our
own planet with scientists believing
that further research could provide us
with valuable knowledge concerning our
future kepler-452b orbits a host star
that’s 1.5 billion years older than our
own Sun it’s thought that the exoplanet
is entering into a runaway greenhouse
phase of its climate history the like of
which the earth will inevitably undergo
around a billion years from now number
two who is funding these explorations
NASA has been funding extensive
exploration of Mars ever since the
Mariner missions in the mid-60s and the
search for habitability on the planet is
now a primary objective 21st century
efforts began with the 297 million
dollar 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiting
mission twin rovers Spirit and
Opportunity were then launched in 2003
at an initial cost of eight hundred and
twenty million the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter followed costing a further seven
hundred and twenty million next the Mars
Science Laboratory mission landed the
Curiosity rover within a two point five
billion dollar budget in the near future
NASA is set to fund the four hundred and
twenty five million dollar insight
Lander mission in 2016 and conduct a
much anticipated Mars 2020 mission
despite the agency apparently being
faced with enforced budget constraints
number one what does this mean for life
on Mars
it isn’t just NASA who has an interest
in Mars exploration the European Space
Agency has had the Mars Express orbiter
recording data for over a decade and
after launching in 2013 the Indian Space
Research Organisation became the
first-ever agency to successfully reach
Mars on its first attempt for some the
red planet is becoming the basis for a
modern-day space race evidence of
flowing water is only going to inspire
further investigation into this unknown
the amount of money being pushed into
Mars exploration is huge in large part
because any discovery of non terrestrial
life is likely to be one of the biggest
advances in scientific history did these
facts get you thinking to vote for which
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