Adding to the growing literature on possible life conditions on the Red Planet, new research from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows that it is possible that there is liquid water close to the surface of Mars.
The explanation is that the substance calcium perchlorate has been found in the soil which lowers the freezing point so the water does not freeze into ice, but is liquid and present in very salty salt water - a brine.
"We have discovered the substance calcium perchlorate in the soil and, under the right conditions; it absorbs water vapour from the atmosphere. Our measurements show that these conditions exist at night and just after sunrise in the winter," said Morten Bo Madsen, head of the Mars Group at the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen.
When night falls, some of the water vapour in the atmosphere condenses on the planet surface as frost.
The soil is porous so what we are seeing is that the water seeps down through the soil.
New close-up images taken by the rover all the way en route to Mount Sharp show that there are expanses of sedimentary deposits, lying as 'plates' one above the other and leaning a bit toward Mount Sharp.
When the stream meets the surface, the solid material carried by the stream falls down and is deposited in the lake just at the lakeshore.
Nearly 4.5 billion years ago, Mars had six and a half times as much water as it does now and a thicker atmosphere.
The magnetic field protects the Earth's atmosphere against degradation from energy rich particles from the Sun.
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