Sea on Mars

Some evidence found on Mars suggests that salty water once existed there. The existence of an ocean adds to the possibility of biological potential on Mars.

NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) reported on March 24 Korean time that the Mars exploration rover, Opportunity, found evidence on the surface of Mars suggesting that a body of salty water with a depth of at least five centimeters might have once existed.

Opportunity has found concentrated salt contents and marks of ripples on some layers of rocks. This manifests that the layer was formed by standing water containing salty contents.

“We think Opportunity is parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars,” said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator of Mars exploration research team.

The experts at NASA infer from this discovery that Mars might have once been warm and humid enough for the survival of some life forms.

NASA once reported at the beginning of the month that Opportunity found evidence of the existence of water of Mars, but it was unclear whether water existed on the surface or underground.

However, despite the use of the word “sea,” the size of the pool of that the once-possibly-existed-water was not made clear. Some say that it is yet too hasty to conclude that an organism once lived on Mars since the evidence does not indicate the exact temporal setting to explain when the body of water was generated and how long it was pooled there.

Sung-Won Joo swon@donga.com