The Curiosity rover found H2O particles bound to other minerals in Martian dirt. According to scientists, it’s enough water to hydrate astronauts who wish to explore the planet in the future.

But before more speculations about Martians attacking Earth start to spread, Salon reports that the academics who discovered the water claim life on Mars is still “unlikely”:

“Although we found water bound up in the soil particles, it’s still pretty dry. Also, we didn’t find evidence of organic molecules in the soil,” [Laurie Leshin, lead author of the paper and dean of science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute] told Gizmodo. “So, this doesn’t have a very big bearing on the life on Mars discussion. However, we now know that our instruments are working beautifully, and our next step is to drill into rocks that may have been better places to preserve evidence or organics and of wet environments that could be suitable for life.”

Leshin considers the new findings quite “exciting” since apparently, warming up a cubic foot of the foreign soil can result in “a couple water bottles’ worth that you would take to the gym.” There you have it — astronauts in space can do aerobics now, if they so choose and gravity allows.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi

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