Science News has a great article about the latest on Mars. According to the latest data, even though pure water just doesn’t last on the surface, brine might last for up to six hours.
NASA’s Curiosity and Phoenix landers have found salts known as perchlorates in the soil, which might hint at the possible existence of such brine pools. However, the brine would never get above -45 degrees Celsius, about 25 degrees below the limit of Earth life tolerance.
This may be good news for future explorers of the planet. They wouldn’t have to worry about contaminating the local (possible) water system with Earth microbes because such life couldn’t live under Martian conditions.
