Since Mariner 9 entered Martian orbit in 1971, we’ve been gathering evidence of Mars’ wet history. Early on, satellite mapping revealed ancient land forms carved by water; more recently, data from the Phoenix Lander, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and Mars Express have shown us conclusively that large amounts of water ice are locked away at the poles and under the Martian regolith, sometimes quite close to the surface. Because of the extremely low atmospheric pressure, the prospects of finding liquid water on modern-day Mars haven’t been good. But observations made by a team at the University of Arizona have sparked fresh hope that Mars might be wetter than we’d thought.
As a long-time Space Nerd trying to manage her expectations, it’s easy for me to settle into a cocoon of pessimism when it comes to the prospect of boots on the surface of the moon and Mars. After all, no concrete plans for a crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit are in the pipeline—we’re still in the early stages of rebuilding our manned spaceflight infrastructure, and the maiden un-crewed flight of the new heavy-lift “Space Launch System” isn’t slated until 2017. And yet, quietly and with little fanfare, NASA is inching its way toward our return to the moon one tiny satellite at a time.
