SPACE.com -- The discovery of evidence of liquid water on Mars is fueling speculation about the existence of life on the Red Planet.


	The discovery of evidence of liquid water on Mars is fueling speculation about the existence of life on the Red Planet. By Staff Writer posted: 04:00 pm ET 21 June 2000

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The discovery of evidence of liquid water on Mars is fueling speculation about the existence of life on the Red Planet.

Life and Living On Mars

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NASA is set to report that the Mars Global Surveyor has found indications of seasonal deposits of water that could be associated with springs on the planet's surface.

Adding liquid water to the mix of minerals and carbon chemistry at Mars would increase the chances that life currently exists somewhere on the planet, say researchers.

"Water is the universal solvent that life has to have," said Adam Bruckner, a professor at the department of aeronautics and astronautics at the University of Washington.

It is believed that life developed on Earth soon after water was able to exist in liquid form, Bruckner said. Since Mars has many similarities to Earth -- the presence of carbon (in its atmosphere and frozen at its poles), minerals and possibly a hot core -- life may already have developed if liquid water has been present on the planet.

"All the necessary elements of life are available on Mars in one way or another," Bruckner said. "The question has always been, was there ever liquid water on Mars, or is there still any underground."

Reservoir could be frozen

Astronomers say that water cannot exist in liquid form on the surface of Mars, except possibly during certain seasons, and then only for a short time. But even evidence of liquid water bubbling up to the surface does not necessarily mean that liquid water is plentiful underground.

"It may be that there's some kind of seasonal warming, so it doesn't necessarily mean that the reservoir of water is liquid," Bruckner said. "It could be that it's just ice, and there's some kind of subsurface heating cycle."

And having liquid water for short periods might not be adequate to provide life-breeding conditions.

"Just having water by itself sitting around for a short period of time isn't going to do it for you," Bruckner said. "You need water to be around for a sufficient amount of time for the chemistry of life to develop."

Microbes at extremes

Last year, researchers reported finding microbes living just above a hidden freshwater lake 2 miles deep in the frozen Antarctic. The finding, which researchers say almost certainly indicates there is a thriving community of microscopic creatures in the ancient, pristine lake, buoyed hopes that life exists elsewhere in the solar system.

The fact that organisms have adapted to living in such harsh conditions bolsters the expectation that extraterrestrial life may be waiting to be discovered right here in our solar system. Jupiter's ice-covered moons Europa and Callisto, both thought to contain large oceans, have emerged in recent years as two of the most likely candidates. Now Mars is added again to that list.