Fiction becomes reality with NASA discovery

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Brian Higgins

Juniors Kyle Ford and Spencer Nayar were selected for the the 2017 NASA Aerospace Scholars program.

Brooke Colombo, Staff Reporter

First it was a best-selling book. On Thursday it hits the screens as one of fall’s most anticipated movies. But the fiction of The Martian, could soon come true with new signs of liquid on Mars.

NASA scientists reported Monday that waterlogged particles, the remnants of bodies of water from billions of years ago, were detected on the stereotypically dry and dusty planet.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in statement on NASA’s website. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

Long term survival on Mars, like what’s depicted in The Martian, might seem outlandish, but this discovery could be the foundation for new possibilities.

“You can’t rule [the possibility of life on Mars] out,” Earth and Space Science teacher Leslie Powell said. “I think it’ll be further in the future, in the sense that for something like that to happen, the technology we need [to get people there and sustain life] safely isn’t available to us yet.”

There are tentative plans for NASA to send people to Mars in the 2030s and now scientists and astronauts know where a hospitable landing site might be found.

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington said in a statement on NASA’s website. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”