Was there ever water on Mars?

   For decades, scientists assumed that the reason for Mar's rusty red color was that Mars was probably at one time warm and wet.  Scientists believed that over time the soil on Mars became rusty.  Scientists believed that this process happened because the iron oxide formed from iron in the soil and oxygen in the water.  "Mars should really look blackish, between its white polar caps, because most of the rocks at mid-latitudes are basalt," said Merrison in a release.  Basalt is the kind of rock that is produced by volcanoes, and other sources of earthly heat.  Basalt is almost always dark.

            "So why isn't Mars black?"  An experiment was conducted where flasks were filled with sand (earthly but not terribly different from Martin soil analyzed by Mars landers).    The flasks were sealed would stay dry as dust.  The vials were put in mechanical tumbler, and they were turned over ten million times to simulate the kind of erosion that happens when rock particles are blown around or grind against each other over time.  After several months, the flasks contained reddish dust.  No water was required.  Merrison theorizes that the chemical composition of the dust changed as a result of the constant friction.  The soil became rich in hematite, which is reddish and a form of iron oxide.

            This finding could mean that there was never water or life on Mars.  This was what some scientists had based their theories for life on Mars on.  I think this could put an end to some studies, but this discovery could open a whole knew world of research possibilities.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/scienceandsociety/2009/09/red-mars-black-mars.html

KH