NASA Announces Water on Mars

No that headline isn’t science fiction or a hoax, it seems that NASA has discovered evidence of water on Mars:

Scientists: Photos suggest recent water on Mars

“New photographs from space suggest that water occasionally flows on the frigid surface of Mars, raising the tantalizing possibility that the red planet is hospitable to life, scientists reported Wednesday. The new images, taken by NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor before it lost contact with Earth, do not actually show flowing water. Rather, they show changes in craters that provide the strongest evidence yet that water coursed through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now.

“This is a squirting gun for water on Mars,” said Kenneth Edgett, a scientist at San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems, which operates a camera on the Global Surveyor. The news excited scientists who hunt for extraterrestrial life. If the finding is confirmed, they say, all the ingredients favorable for life on Mars are in place: liquid water and a stable heat source. In all of its Mars exploration missions, NASA has pursued a “follow the water” strategy to determine if the planet once contained life or could support it now.”