Water on Mars

Credit and Copyright Ellen Roper

NASA announced this week that "for the first time, Martian water has been touched and tasted". According to results obtained by heating a soil sample taken by the Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm, vapors released by the heating process gave clear indication of the presence of water. A number of different sources are reporting on the story, including Astrobiology Magazine. What does this mean for the field of Astrobiology? Water is the stuff of life, so any planet that can be shown to contain or have contained water is a prime candidate for being able to support life. A prime question to be answered is: given the fact that Mars has water, like Earth, may we expect the life to be found to be like Earth life? While the physics and chemistry and mineralogy on Mars is the same as on Earth, we probably can't expect much resemblance if life is presumed to have evolved based on the lengthy, complex system of environmental changes that occurred on Earth over millions of years. On the other hand, if life is the result of self-organized phenomena, as are chemicals, crystals and minerals, then the people we meet on the Red Planet will look very familiar to us.