§Week5火星探險

Potentially(淺在) life-giving water still flows across the ancient surface of Mars from time to time, NASA scientists said Monday (September 28) in revealing(揭示) a potential breakthrough(突破) in both the search for life beyond Earth and human hopes to one day travel there.

While the discovery doesn't by itself offer evidence of life on Mars, either past or present, it does boost hopes that the harsh landscape still offers some refuge for microbes微生物to cling依偎to existence.

"The existence of liquid water, even if it is super salty briny water, gives the possibility that if there's life on Mars, that we have a way to describe how it might survive," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator管理員for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA.

NASA researchers using an imager aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter confirmed確認the watery含水flows by looking at light waves returned from seasonal dark streaks on the surface, long suspected to be associated with liquid water.

The investigation調查showed the streaks條紋absorb light at specific wavelengths 波長 associated with chemicals known to pull water from the Martian atmosphere in a process known as deliquescence潮解, said Georgia Tech doctoral博士student Lujendra Ojha, who first discovered the streaks while still an undergraduate本科student at the University of Arizona in 2011.

The chemicals allow the water to remain liquid at lower temperatures but also help keep it from boiling off in the thin atmosphere 大氣 of Mars, the researchers said.

Keyword:

microbes微生物

cling依偎

administrator管理員

watery含水

deliquescence潮解

undergraduate本科

confirmed確認

wavelengths波長

breakthrough突破

atmosphere 大氣

Structure of the lead

Who: NASA

When: 9/28
Where: Mars
What: NASA found liquid water in Mars

Why: NOT given

How: Not given