Dark Streaks On Martian Slopes May Have Been Carved By Boiling Water, New Research Suggests.

Could this be good news or bad news?

Good, because it proposes that Mars may still have liquid water, but bad, because the planet might have less liquid water than previously thought, says scientists.

Although Mars is now cold as well as dry, several previous studies suggest that liquid water once flowed down the planet's surface. Dark, narrow lines on Martian gradients leave an indication that water could run down these formations every spring.

However, the impression of running water on Mars' current surface — as well as the existence of any water is still uncertain. The atmospheric pressure is too low, at about 1/100^th of Earth's, for liquid water to last on the surface. Water easily boils in an environment with such thin air.

"A good example is that of Mount Everest — the atmospheric pressure at the top of Everest is 400 millibars, as opposed to around 1,000 millibars at sea level, and therefore water boils at 72 degrees Celsius [161 degrees Fahrenheit] rather than 100 degrees C [212 degrees F], meaning mountaineers cannot make a decent cup of tea," study co-author Susan Conway, a planetary geomorphologist at the University of Nantes in France and France's National Centre for Science.

Mars' Streaky Slopes May Have Been Carved Out by Boiling Water. "On the Martian surface, the pressure is 5 to 10 millibars, meaning that liquid water boils no matter what the temperature is."As research reported in an email”.

Previous research suggested the Martian slopes' dark streaks, — known as recurring slope lineae, or RSL — might have been caused by dust avalanches or venting of carbon dioxide gas rather than water. Now days lab experiments under Martian conditions suggest that boiling water may create the strange features after all.