The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104378   Message #2591346
Posted By: Amos
17-Mar-09 - 05:28 PM
Thread Name: BS: Random Traces From All Over
Subject: RE: BS: Random Traces From All Over
Salt water for Dejah

Liquid saltwater is likely present on Mars, new analysis shows
March 17th, 2009
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Droplets on a leg of the Mars Phoenix lander are seen to darken and coalesce. Nilton Renno, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences says this is evidence that they are made of liquid water. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute
(PhysOrg.com) -- Salty, liquid water has been detected on a leg of the Mars Phoenix Lander and therefore could be present at other locations on the planet, according to analysis by a group of mission scientists led by a University of Michigan professor. This is the first time liquid water has been detected and photographed outside the Earth.
"A large number of independent physical and thermodynamical evidence shows that saline water may actually be common on Mars," said Nilton Renno, a professor in the U-M Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences and a co-investigator on the Phoenix mission.
"Liquid water is an essential ingredient for life. This discovery has important implications to many areas of planetary exploration, including the habitability of Mars."
Renno will present these findings March 23 at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston.