This just in! Scientists have found evidence of present day liquid water on Mars. Does this mean in the next 10 years we will be grabbing our suitcases and rocketing over to Hotel de Mars? Unfortunately not.
This new discovery isn't all good news. The water Scientist have found on Mars is not drinkable. It has a bunch of salts in the water called "Perchlorates" that are toxic to humans. By toxic, I don't just mean an upset stomach, but more along the lines of thyroid problems and harm to your skin, placenta and gastrointestinal tract. Even if the water wasn't toxic, it's still very salty. Imagine drinking the saltiest water on earth and then multiply that by 10. Trust me when I say I don't think you want to be drinking that.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that we can get rid of the Perchlorates in the water in Mars just as we do on earth. Yet, since the salinity is so high, it would take more energy to remove it. There are three ways this could be done: Ion Exchange, Reverse Osmosis, or Biological Treatment.
Ion Exchange is simply replacing the Perchlorate ions in the water with another molecule of the same charge. Reverse Osmosis is when scientist pressure liquid through a membrane that only water is allowed through. Biological Treatment means using bacteria to eat the Perchlorates.
Another drawback from this newfound water on Mars, is that it is only present during the warm season (a.k.a. summer on Mars). Imagine the Earth only having water during the summer. We would definitely have some serious drought problems. It would kind of be like living in California (don't worry Cali, you'll get water someday too).
Where does the water come from you ask? Scientist aren't sure. They think it may be from underground or the atmosphere. They do know however, that there were lakes on Mars that lasted about 10,000 years. This is potentially long enough for Mars to have supported some form of life. However, this doesn't prove that there was extraterrestrial life, but rather a possibility of it being there. Now I don't know about green martians running around making martini's, but there could have been micro organisms.
What could all this water talk mean? Honestly, anything could happen at this point. The water has proven to be there and now scientist are trying to figure out what to do next. This planet is no longer some try barren planet, but literally a world of possibilities. We might be a long way from Hotel de Mars, but space has certainly become a little more interesting.