Traces of Recent Liquid Water Found on Mars

(Image by NASA) Victoria Crater's ridges have been fractured by sedimentary bedrock.
(Image by NASA) Gully deposits in Terra Sirenum. Picture on the left was taken in 2001, picture on the right in 2005.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) found even more evidence for something fluid on Mars, perhaps water, and even below the surface. MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera took pictures of Candor Chasma, a Martian canyon last year. Dr. Chris Okubo, a geologist at University of Arizona analyzed the images, discovering "mineral alteration by fluids."

However, Space.com's (via Yahoo! News) article questioned the validity of the conclusion that the fluid may be water. Philip Christensen, a researcher at Arizona State University, said the fluid may be also magma. Other researchers say it may be water mixed with liquid carbon dioxide or just liquid carbon dioxide alone.

A liquid flowing underground often deposits sediments, usually iron-rich or clay-like minerals which cement over time and bleach the layers. Erosion later revealed the underground pipes, which is what MRO detected.

Surface liquid water has been detected by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which began orbiting Mars in 1997, and its research team. Researchers compared images from Terra Sirenum and Centauri Montes regions, both located in the Martian southern hemisphere and found that something cut through the walls of the craters. (Source)

Water cannot stay liquid on Mars for long because of the low pressure and temperature, but it can stay liquid for some time before it quickly turns into ice or evaporates. MRO's discovery provides scientists a little bit of a solid footing think that Mars may have subterranean water. To space agencies water is crucial to not only finding life, but may also pave way to manned flights to planets that have water or water ice.