Katie Oquendo
Dr. Thomas Fleming
Astronomy 170B1
October 25, 2015
Water on Mars I remember sitting in class back in sixth grade science studying the phases of the moon and my teacher going on and on about how much he loves space and hopes to visit Mars one day. As a society who is constantly trying to figure out new things and discover new places the idea of water on mars can only begin to excite us and lead us to create and develop new ideas and ways to test our ways of discovery. Water on mars has always been a fascinating topic to astronomers and researchers because if they are able to prove that water is available out of the Earth it could prove that there is life beyond what exist here on Earth. Mars is said and proven to be the planet that is most like Earth. However, for many people who are not well educated on the topic they question it and don’t believe it for a second. Not because they don’t trust the astronomers and researchers but because they are unable to see the similarities from the service.
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The planet has shown that large bodies of water such as lakes, rivers and possibly even large oceans once covered the planet and may have supported micro organisms. There has never been enough evidence to prove that liquid water still exists even when we are aware that the surface temperature of Mars is far below the freezing point of water so it seems rather unlikely that water is able to flow freely on the red planet. Back in 2011 features on the planet known as the recurring slope lineae (RSL) confirmed signs of salt water flowing down slopes creating what appears to be black lines coming down the slopes on the planet. We are hoping that this sign of flowing water means that Mars is able to support live organisms no matter how