Salty Mars soils could hold clue for evidence of life

William Atkins
Monday, 20 April 2009 19:15

Science - Space

In 2008, the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander found perchlorate salts in the soil of the Martian pole region. Such an intriguing discovery, now in 2009, could mean that Martian history is different than what we currently think. And, past or present microbial life is still a possibility.

In 2008, the Mars Lander found perchlorate salts in the Mars soil—not much of it as a percentage of the soil’s weight, but enough to hold fascinating possibilities of past and/or present life.

The presence of perchlorate salts gives scientists hope that liquid water exists over much of the planet. Perchlorates are the salts coming from perchloric acid (HClO₃).

NASA scientists think that the perchlorates found on Mars could likely be sodium or magnesium perchlorates.

If so, these perchlorates are known to form briny solutions with freezing points lower than what would normally be found in waters without these perchlorates present.

Thus, these salts may allow some water on Mars to still be in its liquid form.

When the Mars Lander penetrated the Martian soil it may have come in contract with the perchlorates as the result of subsurface briny pools of waters.

Some scientists, however, believe the perchlorates are found in frost, not liquid water, on Mars. One of these scientists is Michael Hecht, a NASA scientist (and clarinet player) working out of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Whether perchlorates exist within frost or liquid water, the history of Mars may have to be re-evaluated based on this discovery. Check out the NASA Phoenix Lander article Phoenix Mars Team Opens Window On Scientific Process.

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