New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide a strong evidence that liquid water flows intermittently on the present-day Mars. The findings were published in the journal Nature Geoscience on 28 September 2015.
The researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on Mars using an imaging spectrometer on MRO.
These darkish streaks appear to fade and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit and disappear at colder times.
These downhill flows known as Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL), often have been described as possibly related to liquid water.
