Astrobiologist available to discuss discovery of Mars water

LAWRENCE  — Today, NASA announced the discovery of flowing saltwater on the surface of Mars, a finding that boosts the odds that life in some form could survive on the Red Planet.

University of Kansas astrobiologist Alison Olcott-Marshall is available to speak with reporters about the discovery and its implications for life on Mars.

“The findings announced today, of seasonal liquid briny water on Mars, are incredibly important to our evolving understanding of our closest neighbor in the solar system,” said Olcott-Marshall, assistant professor of geography at KU. “NASA’s guiding principle has long been to ‘follow the water’ because all life, as we know it, requires water. Thus, these areas on Mars where flowing water have been observed provide natural targets in our ongoing search for life on Mars while opening up the intriguing possibility of underground aquifers or frozen ice pools, either of which could harbor sub-surface life.”

Olcott-Marshall studies the geology, chemistry and preserved biology of Mars analogs here on Earth, the better to constrain, limit and understand how to search for life on Mars. She also currently is teaching a first-year seminar on the history of exploration of Mars, from the first telescope observations to NASA’s current and future missions.

“The presence of water on Mars, even if it is briny, can provide hope for in-situ resources for future astronauts to utilize,” she said. “This discovery also demonstrates how coherent NASA’s Mars characterization strategy has been, as the findings of perchlorates reported today have been supported by and are consistent with those of previous missions, including Mars Science Laboratory, Phoenix and even Viking, back in the '70s.”

To schedule and interview with Olcott-Marshall, contact Brendan Lynch at Brendan@ku.edu or 785-864-8855.