Scientists have discovered evidence, taken from the Gale Crater using NASA’s Curiosity rover, that Mars has liquid brine water just below its surface.

Although it‘s been known that Mars harbors ice water, even glacial belts of ice water, scientists have previously thought that liquid could not be present due to the Red Planet's freezing climate.

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According to a paper published in scientific journal Nature, the latest findings suggest that Martian soil holds liquid brine due to the presence of calcium perchlorate, a salt that lowers the freezing point of water to roughly -70C.

Analysis of humidity and temperature data taken over a Martian year showed that temperatures and humidity levels during Mars' winter nights, and up until after just after sunrise, were optimal for liquid brine to form.

“The evidence so far is that any water would be in the form of permafrost,” Prof Andrew Coates, head of planetary science at the Mullard Space, told The Guardian. “It’s the first time we’ve had evidence of liquid water there now.”

While liquid water is thought to be one of the building blocks for life, the radiation bombarded present-day Mars is thought to be too hostile to support life as we know it.

“There are organisms on Earth, halophiles, that can survive in salty environments, but if it’s also very cold and very dry that’s a problem” said Madsen. “The radiation on Mars nails it – that environment is very hostile.”

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The recently published findings adds to the growing list of Martian discoveries that further indicate that ancient Mars once fostered a life-friendly environment, one with a magnetic field strong enough to retain a thicker, protective atmosphere.

NASA's Curiosity rover also found ingredients for life on Mars’ surface with evidence of fixed nitrogen and carbon-containing organic molecule . The Red Planet may have flaunted a massive ocean 450 feet (137 meters) deep covering half of its northern hemisphere 4.5 billion years ago.

Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her here on Twitter