The magnesium perchlorate is clearly a major contributing factor on the freezing point of this solution and paves the way for understanding how a fluid might exist under the sub-freezing ...

Wadsworth and Cockell first steeped the bacteria in a watery solution of magnesium perchlorate, the type most commonly found on Mars, and in roughly the same concentrations.

This may sound exotic, but magnesium perchlorate is what the briny water at and near the surface of Mars appears to consist of, as seen for example when liquid droplets appeared on the legs of ...

It turns out that when you start from a concentrated solution of magnesium perchlorate, it is relatively easy to split the water component of the brine into oxygen and hydrogen using electrolysis.

However, Hanley says magnesium perchlorate can depress the freezing point by 67 degrees Celsius. Perchlorate is so soluble in water, that the only place it can accumulate is in very dry regions.

Hecht detailed one intriguing possibility -- magnesium perchlorate -- specifically. "It's a very effective agent for soaking up water, like a silica gel packet," Hecht said.

Before proceeding to drying by evaporation in an all-glass high-vacuum apparatus of the Stock type, a preliminary treatment with magnesium perchlorate (‘Anhydrone’) was given.

Gorgeous abstract Martian landscapes 29 photos The hydrated minerals are consistent with magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate.

Magnesium and calcium perchlorate, when dissolved in water, would lower its freezing point to a minimum of minus 68 degrees and minus 75 degrees Celsius (minus 92 and minus 103 degrees Fahrenheit ...

Perchlorates have already been found on other areas of Mars, and these salts are known to latch strongly onto water—magnesium perchlorate has been used commercially to remove water from gas ...

Magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate fit the bill. All of these are salts with water locked into the mineral structure — a clear sign that briny water probably had ...