For the first time, NASA scientists have confirmed on Monday that liquid water flowing on the surface of present-day Mars. This finding of the NASA scientists raises the chance of finding life in the red planet.

This discovery can bring some light on the question "If life exists on earth?"

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The flow of water leave long, dark stains on the surface of Mars that can reach hundreds of meters downhill in the warmer months, before they dry up in the autumn as surface temperatures drop, reported The Guardian.

Scientists have still not ascertained from where the streak of flowing water generate. They speculate that it may rise up from underground ice or salty aquifers, or condense out of the thin Martian atmosphere.

"The existence of liquid water, even if it is super salty briny water, gives the possibility that if there's life on Mars, that we have a way to describe how it might survive," declared John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, in an interview for CNN.

NASA used an imager on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and by looking at light waves returned from seasonal dark streaks on the surface long suspected to be associated with liquid water confirmed the presence of water.

The team shared that it found infra-red signatures for hydrated salts when the dark flows were present, but none before they had grown. The hydrated salts, a mix of chlorates and perchlorates, are a smoking gun for the presence of water at all four sites inspected: the Hale, Palikir and Horowitz craters, and a large canyon called Coprates Chasma.

The perchlorate salts lowers the freezing/melting point of water and thus the water remains liquid.

"These may be the best places to search for extant life near the surface of Mars," said Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and senior author on the study. "While it would be very important to find evidence of ancient life, it would be difficult to understand the biology. Current life would be much more informative."

TagsNASA, Water on Mars, NASA Confirms Water On Mars, life on mars, Water on Mars