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If Martians exist, even the microbial sort, they probably need liquid water.
如果真有火星人，即使是微生物屬，可能也需要液態(tài)水。
Temperatures on the surface of the red planet are below freezing, but signs exist that water flowed in the past—and perhaps still does, thanks to a Martian version of anti-freeze.
火星表面的溫度在冰點以下，但是有跡象表明過去有水流動，也許現在仍然在流動，這一事實的發(fā)現多虧了火星版的防凍劑。
Salts lower the freezing point of water, as anyone knows who's thrown salt on an icy sidewalk.
鹽可以降低了水的冰點，就如同大家所知的在結冰的人行道上撒鹽是同一道理。
And both NASA's Phoenix and Curiosity missions found salts called perchlorates sprinkled around the Martian surface.
而美國航空航天局的鳳凰號和好奇號航天器發(fā)現火星表面撒落的一種被稱為高氯酸鹽的鹽分。
To see how perchlorates might act on Mars, researchers recreated the pressure, humidity and temperature of the planet inside a metal cylinder.
為了弄清楚高氯酸鹽在火星上所起到的作用，研究人員在一個金屬圓筒里重新模擬出火星的壓力，濕度和溫度。
They put a thin layer of perchlorates on top of water ice inside the chamber.
他們在這個容器內的冰面鋪上了薄薄一層高氯酸鹽。
Within minutes, droplets of liquid water formed, even at minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
即使在華氏零下100度，短短幾分鐘后就形成了液態(tài)水滴。
Some scientists thought perchlorates might condense water vapor from the atmosphere.
一些科學家認為高氯酸鹽可能會凝結大氣中的水蒸汽。
But within the cylinder, no liquid water formed in the presence of salts, either alone or on Mars-like soil, unless ice was present too.
但是在金屬圓筒內，如果沒有鹽就不會形成液態(tài)水，而在火星土壤情況下也是如此，除非冰也參與這個過程。
The study is in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
這項研究已經在《地球物理研究快報》雜志上發(fā)表。
The finding study could explain mysterious globules seen on the leg of the Phoenix in 2008.
這一研究發(fā)現可以解釋2008年鳳凰號航天器出現的神秘水珠。
The lander may have been dotted with drops of otherworldly water.
著陸器上可能沾上過幾滴這種非現實世界的的水。
