18 February 2009
Related story: First liquid water may have been spotted on Mars
THERE’S nothing like a little antifreeze to thaw out a frozen planet. Thanks to chemicals called perchlorates, liquid water may play a bigger role on Mars than expected, which is good news for the search for life.
Last year, NASA’s Phoenix lander team announced the unexpected discovery on Mars of perchlorates – compounds containing an atom of chlorine bound to four oxygen atoms. Relatively sparse on Earth, they turn out to be abundant on Mars, forming 1 per cent of the soil tasted by Phoenix.
The initial excitement focused on whether Martian microorganisms could use perchlorates as food, as some Earth microbes do. That remains possible, but now it’s emerging that perchlorates could have far-reaching consequences on Mars for another reason: their ability to keep water liquid far below 0 °C.
The Phoenix measurements could not ...