Salty water might exist on Mars, but it’s probably too cold for life
Liquid brine can hang around on Mars’ surface, a new study suggests, but conditions may not be great for life as we know it. That’s bad news for any Earth-based microorganisms determined to colonize the Red Planet, but good news for humans who don’t want to contaminate Mars with microbes hitching a ride on robot explorers. Pure liquid water can’t last on Mars’ frigid surface. But mix in some salts, and H2O might stick around for a bit. NASA’s Curiosity and Phoenix landers have detected salts known as perchlorates in the Martian soil, and researchers have suggested that such salts might make transient brines possible (SN: 3/20/09). No salty liquid water has been definitively found on Mars. But there have been hints of water dribbling out from underground (SN: 9/28/15), and a controversial report of a buried lake near the Red Planet’s south pole (SN: 12/17/18). To learn more about how brines would behave in contemporary Martian conditions, Edgard Rivera-Valentín, a planetary scientist at...