Liquid water runs down canyons and crater walls over the summer months
on Mars, according to researchers who say the discovery raises the odds
of the planet being home to some form of life.
The trickles
leave long, dark stains on the Martian terrain that can reach hundreds
of metres downhill in the warmer months, before they dry up in the
autumn as surface temperatures drop.
Images
taken from the Mars orbit show cliffs, and the steep walls of valleys
and craters, streaked with summertime flows that in the most active
spots combine to form intricate fan-like patterns.
Scientists
are unsure where the water comes from, but it may rise up from
underground ice or salty aquifers, or condense out of the thin Martian
atmosphere.
“There is liquid water today on the surface of Mars,” Michael Meyer, the lead scientist on READ MORE
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