14 DAY TRIAL // This past Monday, in a conference at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, scientists announced the discovery of liquid water on Mars. Well, water mixed with minerals so basically an alien brine of sorts, but let's not ruin the moment dwelling on such technicalities.
As the space agency probably expected when announcing this major find, learning that liquid water flows down slopes on the Mars has reignited talks about just how life-friendly the planet really is. What's interesting is the discovery has also given people one heck of a reason to snicker at Ridley Scott's “The Martian.”
Suddenly, a wild plot flaw appears
“The Martian” tells the story of astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) who, after becoming stranded on Mars following a freak storm, has no choice but do his best to survive all by himself in this alien world.
To stay alive, he must get water to irrigate his potato plants and make sure the spuds grow sturdy and nutritious. To solve this conundrum, he creates a complicated system to condense Steam and then collect the droplets.
Had he known that there was water on the Red Planet, his attempt at playing the Martian farmer would've surely been a much easier endeavor. So, yes, NASA's announcement has pretty much ruined this part of the plot.
Interestingly, movie director Ridley Scott says NASA actually showed him photos of water on Mars a couple of months ago. However, the revelation came too late to change the plot as the movie was too far into production.
Besides, Ridley Scott says he likes “The Martian” just as it is. Take out the scenes where Mark Watney brews water for his potatoes and send him look for a glacier or even proper liquid water instead, and the movie wouldn't be the same.
“He’d’ve found the edge of a glacier, definitely. It would be fascinating. But then I would’ve lost a great sequence,” director Ridley Scott said in an interview, as cited by Business Insider.
“He has to make water, and the steaming device, and put up the plastic tents, which creates the humidity, which grows the plants, which is the most basic form of irrigation. They still do it in Spain that way,” he added.
Here's a run-through of how water was found on Mars
It was with the help of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that scientists documented the presence of liquid water on the surface of the Red Planet. The probe, launched in August 2005, has been orbiting Mars since March 2006.
Among the images it has beamed back over the years are views of dark streaks that criss-cross slopes and that retreat or grow bigger over time. These odd features, shown in the video below, form and thrive during warm seasons, and then vanish when temperatures drop below minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius).
Judging by their behavior, and also because their distribution coincidences with the presence of hydrated minerals, scientists are fairly sure these dark streaks on the Red Planet are the result of liquid water flowing down slopes.
“We found the hydrated salts only when the seasonal features were widest, which suggests that either the dark streaks themselves or a process that forms them is the source of the hydration,” explained scientist Lujendra Ojha in an interview.
“In either case, the detection of hydrated salts on these slopes means that water plays a vital role in the formation of these streaks,” the researcher added.
Here on Earth, it was liquid water that gave rise to life as we know it. Now that this very simple chemical concoction has also been discovered on Mars, scientists are starting to think the Red Planet might not be the dry and barren place we think it to be.
Quite the contrary, it might be that this cosmic neighbor of ours has what it takes to host lifeforms, albeit only simple ones such as bacteria.
