NASA discovery of water on Mars may bolster UH Hilo research team’s chance of choosing humans’ landing site

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The area where NASA scientists think salty water reached the surface of Mars has similar geology to two sites UH Hilo faculty and students proposed the space agency send astronauts to find microbial life.

Photo images of water streaks on Mars. Blues, greens, golds swirling in dark space.
These dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks called recurring slope lineae flowing downhill on Mars are inferred to have been formed by contemporary flowing water. Recently, planetary scientists detected hydrated salts on these slopes at Hale crater, corroborating their original hypothesis that the streaks are indeed formed by liquid water. NASA photo.
John Hamilton
John Hamilton

A research team at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo that hopes to select the landing site for the first manned mission to Mars are optimistic by the recent announcement by NASA that it found evidence of water on the red planet. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found the evidence leading to the announcement.

The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports (update: link to report no longer available) that UH Hilo astronomy professor John Hamilton says the area where NASA scientists think salty water reached the surface of the planet has similar geology to two sites university faculty and students proposed the space agency send astronauts to find microbial life.

“They found water in this one spot, but they will find it in many, many, many others similar to it,” says Hamilton according to the HTH story. Hamilton says the UH Hilo research team targeted areas with a good chance of hosting salty water underneath.

NASA will be hosting a workshop in late October in Houston on choosing areas for human exploration. The two locations UH Hilo submitted to NASA are about half way down the planet’s flow features noted in the recent NASA announcement.

Hamilton says Hawaiʻi Island has similar geological features to Mars and that might lead to more research being done here, which would be a boost to the research and teaching being done at UH Hilo.

UH Hilo’s research team also includes Norman Purves of the UH Hilo physics and astronomy department, Steve Lundblad who serves as chair and associate professor of geology, and Larry Clark, an in-situ resource utilization expert who has done work in Hawaii. Students Colin Milovsoroff and Niki Thomas also are part of the team, and Hamilton says he is trying to secure funding to fly them to the October NASA event.

For more information, contact John Hamilton.

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