Scientists have recently discovered that the soil on Mars is practically bursting with water molecules. Well, maybe not bursting, but data from NASA’s Curiosity Rover indicates that up to two percent of the red dirt is water. It might go even further than that. According to Swedish scientists who have been poring over the environmental data being sent back by Curiosity, liquid water may exist on or in the first five centimeters of Mars’ soil in the winter.
Okay, there’s water in some form on Mars, so how will we get our grubby mitts on it? Well, those Swedish scientists I just mentioned are working on a “proof of concept” device that could harvest water out of the Martian atmosphere. The plan is to send this instrument up with the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rover in 2018.
