 NASA has monumental news today. They say they've found direct evidence that water is flowing on the Martian surface. We've known for a while that water exists in ice form on Mars, but this is the first time we can confirm that it exists in a liquid state. The findings strengthen the odds that extraterrestrial life could be on the red planet. Liquid water is essential for life to thrive here on Earth, so it's way better chances that we'll find little green men on Mars now, or at least small microorganisms. The findings are based off of data taken from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft that orbits the red planet. Back in 2010, the orbiter captured these pictures of strange dark streaks on the Martian surface. They seem to get bigger during the summertime and smaller during the wintertime. The idea is that liquid water filled with salt, also known as perchlorates, flows down the Martian surface, depositing these salts along the way. It turns out we were right. Spectral data from the orbiter shows that molecular water is indeed inside these dark streaks. Where this water is coming from, we're not really sure. The salts could be pulling it out of the atmosphere, or it could be coming from a subsurface reservoir. Either way, we'll have to go there to make sure, and this news is definitely going to fuel the fire behind NASA's journey to Mars.