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A dramatic set of photographs snapped by one of Mars space probes has found evidence that water flowed on the surface of the Red Planet as recently as several years ago, NASA announced on Wednesday.
"The Mars orbiter camera has seen changes in the surface of the planet within the last seven years, highlighting critical processes that have altered that surface," Michael Meyer, of the NASA Mars Exploration Program, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
"The Mars exploration program has been following the water since the mid-90s and now we have found it. Water seems to have flowed on the surface of today's Mars.
"The big questions are: how does this happen and does it point to a habitat for life?"
The new findings, which were published Wednesday in the journal Science, are a major step forward for NASA in its quest to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.
The crisp images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor in orbit raise the possibility that the planet could harbour an environment favourable to life. Water and a stable heat source are considered keys for life to emerge.
"Liquid water, as you know, is of high interest to folks that are interested in looking for life in other bodies in our solar system and beyond," said Kenneth Edgett, of the San Diego-Malin Space Science Systems, which operates a camera aboard the spacecraft.
The latest research emerged when the Global Surveyor snapped images of gullies and trenches that scientists believed were proof of recent water activity flowing down cliffs and steep crater walls.
Scientists have long been trying to prove that liquid water flowed on the surface of the Red Planet many eons ago.
"The Mars Exploration rovers, in more recent years, have been exploring rocks that are very ancient and had ground water that percolated through those rocks and altered those rocks and so we've had this story of ancient water on Mars," Edgett said Wednesday.
"Today, we are talking about liquid water that is present on Mars right now," he said.
Cameras cruised gullies for evidence
Mars Global Surveyor's cameras were the first to record topographic features suggesting that water once flowed on the planet to create channels and valleys.
Scientists with Malin Space Science Systems decided to take another look at gullies in search of more evidence.
"We've continued to image these things with the Global Surveyor ... and we have found tens of thousands of gullies at hundreds of sites," Edgett said.
They found two gullies -- which were originally photographed in 1999 and 2001 and re-imaged in 2004 and 2005 -- showed changes consistent with water cascading down crater walls.
The images taken by the spacecraft do not show water. Rather they exhibit changes in surface features that show water sometimes flows on the surface of the dry, cold planet.
"With the multiple extensions of Global Surveyor's mission, we have been able to image gullies repeatedly, -- the same ones over and over again -- and in doing that, we found something (we) really didn't expect but we were looking for just in case it would happen," he said.
"And that is changes that indicate the material had actually flowed through a gully and made a deposit that would indicate by its morphology, by its shape, that a liquid was involved."
The scientists concluded that the light-coloured deposits, which possibly consisted of mud, salt or frost, were left behind when water recently coursed through the channels.
Mission could be nearing end
NASA announced last week that the Mars Global Surveyor's mission may be at its end.
The Global Surveyor, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, abruptly lost radio contact with Earth last month. Attempts to locate the spacecraft have failed.
According to NASA, the Global Surveyor has served the longest and been the most productive of any spacecraft ever sent to the Red Planet.
The US$154 million surveyor, which was supposed to last only two years but continued sending data for almost a decade, is the oldest NASA robotic explorer studying Mars.
Last month, NASA scientists conceded the spacecraft is probably lost in space after the agency tried unsuccessfully for two weeks to contact the probe.
The probe, the oldest of five NASA robotic explorers studying Mars, was launched more than 10 years ago in November 1996.
It reached Mars in September 1997 and has been observing the ever-changing planet over the course of the past five Martian years.
Since then, it has captured more than 240,000 high-resolution images that highlight the geology and meteorology of Mars.
The probe gave Earth its first detailed views of massive dust storms and gullies.
The entire Mars Global Surveyor program cost $247 million, including launch expenses and a decade of in-flight operations. NASA had just approved a two-year mission extension for $6 million a year.
Only last month, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said that humans will have to colonize planets in far-flung solar systems if the race is to survive.
"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet," he said in a radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.
"Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe."
Hawking said humans will have to travel to another star to find a hospitable planet to colonize because there are no other planets like Earth in our own solar system.
"The Mars orbiter camera has seen changes in the surface of the planet within the last seven years, highlighting critical processes that have altered that surface," Michael Meyer, of the NASA Mars Exploration Program, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
"The Mars exploration program has been following the water since the mid-90s and now we have found it. Water seems to have flowed on the surface of today's Mars.
"The big questions are: how does this happen and does it point to a habitat for life?"
The new findings, which were published Wednesday in the journal Science, are a major step forward for NASA in its quest to unlock the secrets of the Red Planet.
The crisp images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor in orbit raise the possibility that the planet could harbour an environment favourable to life. Water and a stable heat source are considered keys for life to emerge.
"Liquid water, as you know, is of high interest to folks that are interested in looking for life in other bodies in our solar system and beyond," said Kenneth Edgett, of the San Diego-Malin Space Science Systems, which operates a camera aboard the spacecraft.
The latest research emerged when the Global Surveyor snapped images of gullies and trenches that scientists believed were proof of recent water activity flowing down cliffs and steep crater walls.
Scientists have long been trying to prove that liquid water flowed on the surface of the Red Planet many eons ago.
"The Mars Exploration rovers, in more recent years, have been exploring rocks that are very ancient and had ground water that percolated through those rocks and altered those rocks and so we've had this story of ancient water on Mars," Edgett said Wednesday.
"Today, we are talking about liquid water that is present on Mars right now," he said.
Cameras cruised gullies for evidence
Mars Global Surveyor's cameras were the first to record topographic features suggesting that water once flowed on the planet to create channels and valleys.
Scientists with Malin Space Science Systems decided to take another look at gullies in search of more evidence.
"We've continued to image these things with the Global Surveyor ... and we have found tens of thousands of gullies at hundreds of sites," Edgett said.
They found two gullies -- which were originally photographed in 1999 and 2001 and re-imaged in 2004 and 2005 -- showed changes consistent with water cascading down crater walls.
The images taken by the spacecraft do not show water. Rather they exhibit changes in surface features that show water sometimes flows on the surface of the dry, cold planet.
"With the multiple extensions of Global Surveyor's mission, we have been able to image gullies repeatedly, -- the same ones over and over again -- and in doing that, we found something (we) really didn't expect but we were looking for just in case it would happen," he said.
"And that is changes that indicate the material had actually flowed through a gully and made a deposit that would indicate by its morphology, by its shape, that a liquid was involved."
The scientists concluded that the light-coloured deposits, which possibly consisted of mud, salt or frost, were left behind when water recently coursed through the channels.
Mission could be nearing end
NASA announced last week that the Mars Global Surveyor's mission may be at its end.
The Global Surveyor, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, abruptly lost radio contact with Earth last month. Attempts to locate the spacecraft have failed.
According to NASA, the Global Surveyor has served the longest and been the most productive of any spacecraft ever sent to the Red Planet.
The US$154 million surveyor, which was supposed to last only two years but continued sending data for almost a decade, is the oldest NASA robotic explorer studying Mars.
Last month, NASA scientists conceded the spacecraft is probably lost in space after the agency tried unsuccessfully for two weeks to contact the probe.
The probe, the oldest of five NASA robotic explorers studying Mars, was launched more than 10 years ago in November 1996.
It reached Mars in September 1997 and has been observing the ever-changing planet over the course of the past five Martian years.
Since then, it has captured more than 240,000 high-resolution images that highlight the geology and meteorology of Mars.
The probe gave Earth its first detailed views of massive dust storms and gullies.
The entire Mars Global Surveyor program cost $247 million, including launch expenses and a decade of in-flight operations. NASA had just approved a two-year mission extension for $6 million a year.
Only last month, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking said that humans will have to colonize planets in far-flung solar systems if the race is to survive.
"The long-term survival of the human race is at risk as long as it is confined to a single planet," he said in a radio interview with the British Broadcasting Corp.
"Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe."
Hawking said humans will have to travel to another star to find a hospitable planet to colonize because there are no other planets like Earth in our own solar system.
I still believe before my time is over they will find some form of life on that planet....I still think it is possible that Mars was once very much like earth, and something happened....Who knows, maybe we already screwed that planet up, and jumped ship to Earth...Perhaps we need to go back to Mars again
Wonder how much for a round trip?
Those prices were like 5 years ago shug. Inflation goes up like prices tightwad. 
