Mars found water - what does it mean

NASA researchers have discovered streams of hydrated salts.
Photo: NASA

NASA has announced that liquid water exists on Mars. True, this is still an assumption. In addition, it is difficult to verify this with your own eyes, since international rules prohibit conducting research in that area of ​​the planet where there is a theoretical probability of the existence of living organisms, reports Medusa.

A NASA press release says that scientists have “the strongest evidence” of the presence of liquid water on Mars. But in fact, this is not quite the case, notes the American edition Quartz, since NASA has only “chemical evidence”, which suggests that there is liquid water mixed with salts.

The first evidence that there are some currents on Mars that could be water came in the 2011 year. Then scientists noticed on the slopes of the Martian surface the lines that appeared in the summer and disappeared in the winter. They reasoned that the lines could be left fluid.

Now researchers were able to prove that in these areas of the planet during the warm months something really flows. But what is really not entirely clear. Because liquid water on Mars does not exactly look like water on Earth. It is a kind of mud flow, biting and poisonous. In this so-called water, if it is there, it is not the usual NaCl that is dissolved, but the substance that is much more harmful from the point of view of terrestrial organisms.

Nevertheless, the news of the discovery of fluid on Mars inspired many. After a sensational statement by NASA Google replaced your logo on a cute animated doodle about mars and water.

Difficulty exploring mars

To actually make sure that there is water on Mars, you have to send a person or a rover there. But with this there are a number of technical difficulties.

In addition, Mars is divided into areas: some are allowed to explore, others are not. The ban turned out to be precisely those parts of the planet where it is most likely to detect water.

In 1967, more than a hundred countries signed the Space Treaty: it prohibits work if there is a chance of bringing bacteria from Earth onto a foreign planet. Therefore, neither man nor robot from Earth has the right to approach ice structures - and even those areas where ice is located closer than five meters from the surface. Moreover, depending on the type of mission, all rovers must undergo a specific cleaning procedure from microorganisms.

The next rover should go to Mars in 2020, but the status of its mission does not imply work in areas where even in theory life can exist (that is, it will not be so thoroughly cleaned). It is unclear how the flight to Mars scheduled for 2030 is related to these rules.

Preparing for a manned flight to Mars

However, the preparation for a manned flight of man to Mars for the subsequent colonization of the red planet is in full swing. But, most likely, this is a mission with a one-way ticket, since neither NASA nor other space agencies currently have the technology that would allow to send a Martian mission and then return it to Earth.

So, science experiment to imitate the conditions of the flight to Mars began in Hawaii: six volunteers from the USA, France and Germany were isolated from the outside world for a year in a special complex on the slope of the sleeping Mauna Loa volcano, remotely resembling the Red Planet landscape.

The international team of young scientists selected by competition for participation in this project included three men and three women. The crew commander was an American, Carmel Johnson, dealing with problems of soil science and ecology. Together with her, a physicist, an engineer, a biologist, a doctor and an architect who dreams of designing a permanent residential complex on Mars were voluntarily imprisoned.

Experts from NASA and the University of Hawaii expect that the experiment will help prepare the first manned flight to the red planet, which the US space agency hopes to carry out in the 2030s.

The original scenario of a possible mission to Mars came up with the Dutchman Bass Landdorp. He came up with a reality show, the participants of which must fly to Mars and build a colony there. The hundred selected for the project participants were one Ukrainian and five Russians - four girls and one guy.

Photo: NASA

The plan is this: 2024, the first shuttle with four colonists, who are under the watchful attention of video cameras around the clock, will fly to the red planet. The flight will take seven to eight months, they will not be taken back, they will remain there. Every two years, one more additional shuttle will be sent to Mars. In total, four such shuttles are planned. The projected budget for the first crew of 6 is billions of dollars.

Together with various experiments and the preparation of possible crews, equipment is being developed for the development of the red planet.

So the specialists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at the beginning of 2020's intend to test on the International Space Station Smart suitsthat are being developed for the Mars exploration program.

According to NASA engineers, the "Martian" spacesuit will be designed primarily for field geological work on the surface of the planet.