Back in the day, people used to believe there was life on Mars because they saw canals on the planet through telescopes. Then we applied some actual science and discovered that was BS, just an optical illusion. There’s no water on Mars!
Then again…
Here’s the deal. You might remember that last August, the HiRISE Orbiter scanned the surface of Mars and found streaks in the soil. Even since they’ve been looking for an explanation that doesn’t involve water, simply because they want to rule out every other option before saying “Holy crap, there’s water on Mars.”
How, considering the climate, does Mars have water? The answer is salt. The water is simply so briny that it can handle the extreme temperatures and total lack of atmospheric pressure. Unless they can disprove it’s water, somehow, despite the fact that it behaves like water in those conditions.
[ via io9.com ]