Salty Martian Water Could Have Enough Oxygen to Support Life

[Judi Lynn]

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | October 22, 2018 01:18pm ET

Salty water buried just beneath the Martian surface could have enough dissolved oxygen to support microbes, and perhaps even simple animal life such as sponges in some places, a new study suggests.

This surprising conclusion could help reshape scientists' understanding of the Red Planet's habitability, both past and present, study team members said.

"We live in exciting times," said lead author Vlada Stamenković, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Especially as there is so much more work still needed to better understand the Martian habitability, I hope this creates excitement in the [scientific] community, in the world, to think of Mars as a potential place for life to exist maybe even today." [The Search for Life on Mars (A Photo Timeline)]

Water flowed liberally across Mars' red dirt in the ancient past, as observations by spacecraft such as NASA's Viking orbiters, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Curiosity, Spirit and Opportunity rovers have shown. Indeed, many scientists think the Red Planet even featured oceans billions of years ago.

More:
https://www.space.com/42210-mars-brines-oxygen-support-life.html