Finding liquid water on Mars may be much more difficult than scientists thought. New research questions the source of the recently discovered surface water on the Red Planet. It may well be that future Martian colonists will be forced to explore the Arctic regions, which are rich in ice. Recall how it was: recently, scientists have discovered dark stripes on the surface of Mars, indicating flowing water, but have no idea where it came from. New research, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, rules out the possibility that this water is slowly draining out of melting ice deposits below the surface or from groundwater. Most likely, this water comes from the atmosphere or is not water at all.
Needless to say, future colonists and explorers of Mars will not like this news. Finding the source of water can be extremely important for planning future missions. If dark streams are formed by shallow aquifers that seep to the surface, future astronauts could theoretically find water from them and use them as a resource, according to geophysicist David Stillman of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.
But if the source of these drips is different, liquid water on Mars may not be all that useful to astronauts, and mission planning will be seriously complicated, according to Matt Hoinaki, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona at Tucson and lead author of the new work. Astronauts will be limited to exploring the polar regions, where they can melt underground ice deposits, or they will have to spend extra money to get fuel, chemicals and water to Mars.
Before coming to such conclusions, the scientists analyzed satellite images of dark stripes known as repetitive oblique lines (RSL). These bands are located in canyons near the equator, where it is too warm for ice to gradually melt near the surface. Any ice should have melted long ago.
It's possible there is water deep below the surface, but Hoinaki says any groundwater that causes RSL will be too salty. So salty that you can't even desalinate it. Scientists also assume that water is taken from the atmosphere and transferred to the soil due to hygroscopicity. Again, this won't help the colonists in any way, unless they find a high-tech way to draw water vapor out of the atmosphere.
If at all about the sad, scientists admit that RSL may not be liquid water at all. A dry-flow effect, where small seasonal landslides seep through canyons, could well form these transitional bands. Unlikely, but also not worth excluding.
Part of the problem is that scientists need to rely on satellite imagery. Perhaps RSL may have other sources, or it really is streams of useful water. You need to look at them with your own eyes. Future rovers - or better yet, the Martians - will tackle this issue.
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Where to get enough drinking water on Mars? Where can it be located? These questions are vital to future missions and plans to colonize this planet. It will be a shame to find out that colonists will have to choose frozen polar regions for development, where ice is abundant.
ILYA KHEL