They suggest that calcium perchlorate in the ground absorbs water from the atmosphere until it dissolves into a salty solution, or brine. Shorter periods of stability would also be possible in other seasons. The team found that during Martian winter, conditions throughout the cold but humid nights would allow liquid water to be stable in the first 5 centimetres of the surface. The levels of liquid, however, are too low to support terrestrial-type organisms, the researchers conclude. As temperatures rise in the morning, the liquid evaporates. The brines, computer models show, form nightly in the upper 2 inches of the planet’s soil as perchlorates absorb atmospheric water vapor. Nature Geoscience should be posting the article shortly As temperatures rise in the morning, the liquid evaporate Findings, published in this week’s Nature Geoscience, are based on nearly two years worth of atmospheric humidity and temperature measurements collected by the roving science laboratory Curiosity, which is exploring an ancient impact basin called Gale Crater near the planet’s equator. Perchlorate salts in the planet’s soil are lowering the freezing temperature of water, setting up conditions for liquid brines to form at equatorial regions, new research from NASA’s Curiosity rover shows. Liquid water, on the other hand, has been harder to come by, as the temperature and atmospheric pressure at the surface is too low. Planetary scientists have seen a lot of evidence for frozen water at the Martian poles, and water vapour in the planet’s atmosphere. If future missions can confirm this water cycle, it means astronauts could one day farm moisture to provide drinking water on Mars. Liquid water collects in the Martian soil each night, before evaporating during the day, according to NASA’s Curiosity rover.

Calcium perchlorate in mars awter