"Liquid water, as opposed to the water ice and water vapor known to exist at Mars, is considered necessary for life. The new findings heighten intrigue about the potential for microbial life on Mars. The Mars Orbiter Camera on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor provided the new evidence of the deposits in images taken in 2004 and 2005."
They really ought to get off this Search for Life kick.
Yawn. Come to spoil another thread have you?
"They really ought to get off this Search for Life kick."
Why?
Rather than search for life, that would certainly consist of useless microbes, we should PUT life on Mars, as in human life.
Life on Mars. That's all we need. Now the Sierra Club will sue to stop all further Martian exploration in order to protect Mars's delicate environment.
Never mind the search for life. Water means colonization. The last thing we want is to find life there. If we do, the environuts will do everything they can to stop colonization.
Personally, I don't see how liquid water in any significant amount, can exist on the surface of mars.
The air pressure is too low. If you put a bathtub of it out, it would be gone in less than an hour.