{"id":44918,"date":"2016-08-29T15:50:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-29T22:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=44918"},"modified":"2016-08-29T15:50:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-29T22:50:31","slug":"nau-researcher-sparks-new-debate-findings-showing-little-present-day-water-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-researcher-sparks-new-debate-findings-showing-little-present-day-water-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU researcher sparks new debate with findings showing little, if any, present-day water on Mars"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is there liquid water on the surface of Mars? Scientists have been theorizing that for years, but findings published by a Northern Arizona University researcher in the journal Geophysical Research Letters<\/em><\/a> are sparking new debate and attracting attention by national media outlets, including the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> and National Geographic, <\/em>and numerous science news websites such as Space.com<\/a>. Edwards was also interviewed by several NPR stations. The findings were announced in recent statements made by NASA<\/a> and NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/a> in Pasadena (JPL).<\/p>\n

Christopher Edwards<\/strong>, NAU Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and co-author Sylvain<\/strong> Piqueux<\/strong>, of JPL, studied five Mars years (equal to about 12 Earth years) of data gathered by the Mars Odyssey spacecraft to determine that certain features of the planet previously believed to be the result of flowing liquid water hold no more than three percent water\u2013the same as or less than the driest deserts on Earth.<\/p>\n

The highly sensitive infrared images, taken of a crater-wall region within the large Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars, measure the temperature of the planet\u2019s surface, which can indicate the presence of moisture in the soil\u2013or lack thereof.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised by the press coverage,\u201d said Edwards. \u201cThe presence of liquid water on the surface of Mars is a hot topic for NASA because it is so compelling.\u201d He explained, \u201cOur findings are a bit of a course correction for the scientific community, but this is how the scientific process works; it\u2019s a normal part of the ongoing debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards, who joined NAU faculty at the beginning of the Fall 2016 term, is a participating scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover, and has worked on numerous other Mars missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur next steps are to study similar sites on Mars that show the same seasonal darkening trends,\u201d said Edwards. \u201cAt these sites, we\u2019ll apply the same thermal imaging technique to determine their temperature and the likelihood of water.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s it like to be involved in research at that level? \u201cI\u2019m happy to be part of this grand adventure we\u2019re on with NASA\u2013it\u2019s pretty amazing,\u201d said Edwards. \u201cAlthough sometimes the day-to-day work can be monotonous and detailed, it\u2019s pretty exciting when you take a step back and recognize you\u2019re commanding a rover on another planet to gather the data you need for projects that have the potential to shape the course of humanity. That\u2019s spectacular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards is excited to contribute to the growth of the university\u2019s planetary research program. In addition to his ongoing research focusing on the composition, physical properties and processes, and morphology of planetary surfaces, Edwards will be developing new instrumentation at NAU for potential use on future NASA interplanetary missions. He is also building a new computer lab that will give NAU researchers, including students, access to data from spacecraft on the Martian surface and in Mars obit, as well as the ability to participate in Curiosity Mars Rover science operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is there liquid water on the surface of Mars? Scientists have been theorizing that for years, but findings published by a Northern Arizona University researcher in the journal Geophysical Research Letters are sparking new debate and attracting attention by national media outlets, including the Washington Post and National Geographic, and numerous science news websites such…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":44922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}