Our collective fascination with Mars was kicked in to overdrive last week with new findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) providing the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars. Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. And this past weekend, Ridley Scott’s new film The Martian with Matt Damon playing a stranded astronaut has debuted to solid box office and great reviews, providing our first good film about the red planet. Steve and Ben discuss Mars and how we may not be that far away from a manned mission to our neighbour planet.

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