New data released by NASA shows that astronauts may one day be able to harvest water on Mars, a necessity for humans to be able to colonize the red planet.

"Liquid water is a requirement for life as we know it, and a target for Mars exploration missions," said the report's lead author, Javier Martin-Torres of Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, and a member of Curiosity's science team.

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NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to investigate both ancient and modern environmental conditions in Mars' Gale Crater region.

The findings were based on more than a full Mars year of temperature and humidity measurements by NASA's Curiosity rover team. According to their calculations, conditions at the rover's near-equatorial location were ideal for small amounts of brine to form during some nights, drying out again after dawn. NASA said that this could occur more frequently at higher latitudes, where colder temperatures and more water vapor can result in more humid conditions.

"Conditions near the surface of present-day Mars are hardly favorable for microbial life as we know it, but the possibility for liquid brines on Mars has wider implications for habitability and geological water-related processes."

The weather and soil conditions on Mars, as measured by NASA's Curiosity rover, together with a type of salt found in Martian soil, could saturate the soil with liquid brine at night.

The Curiosity team has previously identified perchlorate in Martian soil, which has properties of absorbing water vapor from the atmosphere while lowering its freezing temperature. NASA says that this has been proposed for years as a mechanism for possible existence of transient liquid brines at higher latitudes on Mars despite itss cold, dry conditions.

The weather data in the report come from the Cuirosity's Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), which was provided by Spain. The station includes a relative-humidity sensor and a ground-temperature sensor.

"We have not detected brines, but calculating the possibility that they might exist in Gale Crater during some nights testifies to the value of the round-the-clock and year-round measurements REMS is providing," said Curiosity Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada.

Curiosity is the first mission to measure relative humidity in the Martian atmosphere close to the surface, and year-round ground temperature. Relative humidity depends on the temperature of the air, as well as the amount of water vapor in it.

The rover's measurements of relative humidity range from about 5 percent on summer afternoons to 100 percent on fall and winter nights.  

TagsNASA Data Shows Harvesting Water Possible on Mars, curiosity, rover, NASA, Rover Environmental Monitoring Station, REMS, Javier Martin-Torres, Lulea University of Technology, Ashwin Vasavada