Liquid water on Mars: Ridley Scott says he 'knew about Nasa discovery' months before it was officially announced

The Martians director wasn't quite as excited as the rest of the world

Ridley Scott knew something the rest of the world didn't

Ridley Scott claims he was already aware of Nasa’s discovery of flowing water on Mars months before it was announced.

Evidence of liquid water on the Red Planet was announced to great fanfare on Monday morning. Experts now believe the discovery of water combined with hydrated salts, which prevents it from freezing, could be an indicator of environments potentially “habitable to certain kinds of bacteria”.

But Scott, who worked closely with Nasa on his forthcoming film The Martian, was less than impressed by the announcement, telling Yahoo Movies: “I knew that months ago.”

His film follows an astronaut’s attempt to survive on Mars after becoming stranded there during a dust storm. In one scene, Mart Watney, played by Matt Damon, makes water using a plastic tarp.

Scott said: ”When I first talked to NASA, we got into all kinds of stuff and I said, ‘So I know you’ve got down there [these] massive glaciers.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, that the massive white thing [on the surface of Mars] that gets covered with dust, we think that’s ice.’”

“And I said, 'Wow! Does that mean there was an ocean?’ Are we right now what Mars was 750 million years ago?’ And they went, ‘Uh, good question.’ So they want to go up there and find out.’”

The Martian is released in UK cinemas on Friday,