The question torments all astronomers around the world. Will humans find water on Mars if they ever manage to set foot on its soil? If scientists knew that the precious liquid had gradually disappeared from Mars over time, a recent study claims that the process would actually be much faster than expected and that the water would evaporate at an underestimated speed, explains The Independant. And it is now the whole project of a human expedition to the red planet that is called into question. Water evaporates when the sun transforms its molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms.
The planet's gravity is then unable to hold them back and they disappear into space. There was a time when Mars was filled with water as several studies have shown. Rivers and lakes were part of the landscape. NASA predicts that the first Mars expedition is expected to materialize within ten years. However, we must qualify. There is nothing to indicate that there will be no more water when man takes his first steps on Martian soil. The evaporation process indeed spans several million years.
With the seasons
The study was carried out using data collected by the Trace Gas Orbiter probe launched in March 2016 and which has been crisscrossing the atmosphere of the red planet since October 2016. On the North Pole of the sun, ice is melting at a speed important, especially when the Sun is closest. The presence of water is intrinsically linked to the discovery of life.
"Not enough, therefore, to question the plans of NASA which plans a human expedition during this century," says Franck Montmessin, French researcher who participated in the study, “By analyzing the TGO data, we could see that the loss of Martian water is much faster than we thought. And, above all, that it has a cyclical, seasonal rhythm, which depends on the solar lighting at the level of the poles, "he explains.
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