The student who discovered water on Mars says it was a 'lucky accident'

Dans les champs de l&#x27;observation le hasard ne favorise que les esprits préparés. (In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.)<p>- Louis Pasteur (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikiquote.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Louis_Pasteur" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikiquote.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Louis_Pasteur</a>)

It didn&#x27;t happen by accident, but rather because he &quot;(looks) at both visible light and infrared light and based on how different materials absorb light, (he) can compare that with the laboratory data and make some inference about what kind of materials are present.&quot;, and before that because he learned the required stuff to end up doing this.

It&#x27;s not clear what the accident was. (?)<p>It&#x27;s also not clear why they included a picture of him playing guitar with a caption about his band...

I haven&#x27;t been following this too closely. Are the salt streaks where the water is too? Are we actually seeing the water itself in these images or not?

&gt;&quot;Using a Nasa instrument called Crism, Lujendra and his team were able to tell that these &#x27;streaks&#x27; are covered with salts.&quot;<p>Hard to believe that an undergraduate at the time would have &quot;his team&quot;. He was probably the part of a larger team that gave the undergrads the opportunity to look at the images generated by the equipment, and he was the student who found the evidence. Not saying that he shouldn&#x27;t be given credit.