Wet Mars?


A new gully deposit in a crater in the Centauri Montes Region.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Malin Space Science Systems

NASA today announced that spacecraft imagery shows evidence that liquid water emerges on the surface of Mars before quickly evaporating or freezing.

Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The new findings heighten intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars. The Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor provided the new evidence of the deposits in images taken in 2004 and 2005.

UPDATE 12/7/06: SpaceToday.net links to several news stories about this significant announcement, and famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury tells Fox News of his excitment about the Mars discovery and about NASA's lunar outpost plans.

For decades, Bradbury has woven colorful science-fiction tales about people traveling to and living on Mars, many of them collected in his 1950 book "The Martian Chronicles."

His vivid descriptions of the planet have brought it to life for millions of readers, and he has long believed the stuff of his imagination would one day become reality.

"We're going to bring our life to Mars," he said. "We will be the Martians, and that's our future. I wish I were going to be alive the day we land on Mars and become the Martians."