Nasa images show that life may exist on red planet

Published on Friday 5 August 2011 17:30

IMAGES released by Nasa reveal water flows that appear in spring and summer on a slope inside Newton crater on Mars, raising the possibility that life could exist on the red planet.

The space agency first found signs of water on Mars more than a decade ago, but earlier indications were that any existing water would be frozen and concentrated at the poles.

The new images from Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite over the planet's southern hemisphere show dark, finger-like features that extend down some slopes and crater walls during the planet's hottest months and fading in the Martian winter.

Philip Christensen, a geophysicist at Arizona State University, said: "This is the best evidence we have to date of a liquid water occurring today on Mars."

Scientists believe that water on Mars would be highly salty and lie beneath the surface.

That would explain why it would not freeze in the planet's frigid surface temperatures, which can fall to around minus 128 degrees Celsius, or evaporate in its low air pressure.

The scientists on Nasa's panel stressed that liquid water is more likely to sustain life than ice, underlining the importance of the latest discovery.