Water On Mars? Curiosity Finds High Percentage of Water in Martian Soil

Perhaps some of the best news for the possibility of manned missions for the exploration of Mars came this week when NASA scientists using the Curiosity rover found substantial amounts of water in the soil on the Red Planet.

According to NASA. soil analyzed by Curiosity revealed that the Martian soil contains several percent water by weight.

“One of the most exciting results from this very first solid sample ingested by Curiosity is the high percentage of water in the soil,” said Laurie Leshin, lead author of one paper and dean of the School Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “About 2 percent of the soil on the surface of Mars is made up of water, which is a great resource, and interesting scientifically.” The sample also released significant carbon dioxide, oxygen and sulfur compounds when heated.

The analysis was performed by Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite. The SAM includes a gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer and a tunable laser spectrometer – all of which allow SAM to identify a wide range of chemical compounds and determine the ratios of different isotopes of key elements.

“Mars has kind of a global layer, a layer of surface soil that has been mixed and distributed by frequent dust storms. So a scoop of this stuff is basically a microscopic Mars rock collection,” said Leshin. “If you mix many grains of it together, you probably have an accurate picture of typical Martian crust. By learning about it in any one place you’re learning about the entire planet.”