Can we drink the water on Mars?

Last year, researchers put forward compelling evidence showing transient dark streaks appearing on Mars are caused by flowing water.

While that discovery may have been welcome news to those planning a manned mission to the Red Planet, research just published in the Journal of Physical Research: Planets has showed liquid causing the streaks may not be a source of potable water for human visitors.

In fact, the study said, flowing water may not be causing the streaks, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL).

Using the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, study researchers examined streaks in the Valles Marineris region near Mars’ equator. Some of the locations exhibiting the seasonal flows are canyon sides and singular peaks, ground patterns that make it difficult to say the streaks are caused by underground water rising up to the planet’s surface.

The researchers said melting ground ice probably isn’t a source for seasonal melting due to warm temperature found along the Martian equator.

Studying the water on Mars

Study findings were based on detailed observation of 41 RSL locations in central and eastern portions of Valles Marineris, the biggest canyon system in the solar system. The number of individual flows in each location ranged from a handful to greater than 1,000.

“The occurrence of recurring slope lineae (flows) in these canyons is much more widespread than previously recognized,” study author Matthew Chojnacki, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, said in a news release. “As far as we can tell, this is the densest population of them on the planet, so if they are indeed associated with contemporary aqueous activity, that makes this canyon system an even more interesting area than it is just from the spectacular geology alone.”

The study team determined how much water had to be present if the RSL are caused by liquid water seeping through to the surface.

RSL are often seen on inner walls of impact craters. At that kind of location, a substantial underground water layer may have been pierced by an impact long ago, and the crater still provides warm-season flows. However, no such underground layer matches the ridge or peak shapes at many RSL locations in the study.

A different possibility is that some kinds of surface salts strongly draw water vapor out of the Martian atmosphere, forming liquid water. Some locations have bright, prolonged streaks close to the dark, seasonal ones, which could be caused by salt left behind after evaporation of water, the study team said.

The study also found groundwater capable of producing RSL would likely be too salty to desalinate for human use. Furthermore, to be able to generate the RSL, between seven and twelve Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of briny water would need to trickle out each year.

“There do seem to be more ways atmosphere and surface interact in the canyons than in blander topography, such as clouds trailing out of the canyons and low-lying haze in the canyons.” Chojnacki said. “Perhaps the atmosphere-surface interactions in this region are associated with the high abundance of recurring slope lineae. We can’t rule that out, but a mechanism to make the connection is far from clear.”

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Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin 

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