• Question: Have you found water on Mars.

    Asked by chantelinda03 to Rochelle, Julia, Jon F, Beth, Adrian on 21 Jan 2016.
    • Photo: Jon Farrow

      Jon Farrow answered on 21 Jan 2016:

      Water has been found on Mars!
      We know that there’s quite a bit of ice (solid water) under the surface of the planet and there’s a lot of water ice at the poles as well.

      Just last year, a satellite we have orbiting Mars called the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) rover also found evidence for flowing liquid water on the surface! The water would be far from drinkable though, it’d be super-concentrated, salty water.

      A robot we have on the surface of the planet called the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL, or Curiosity Rover) also found evidence that there used to be a lot more liquid water flowing on the surface of the planet – lakes and rivers! Scientists are now trying to figure out when exactly the water was there and for how long.

      You can read more about the MRO discovery here:
      https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-confirms-evidence-that-liquid-water-flows-on-today-s-mars

      and the MSL discoveries here:
      http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission/science/results/

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