Take careful note of where you are when you read this, because you’ll probably never forget it.

Martians might be real.

No, this isn’t some bogus, tinfoil-headed space claim, this is a real and factual report, straight from the authority themselves.

In what may be the biggest and most important announcement they’ve ever made (and remember, they put a human being on the moon), NASA put a press release out Monday morning that stated — word for word — the following incomprehensible (but true) news.

It’s titled “NASA Confirms Evidence That Liquid Water Flows on Today’s Mars”:

New findings from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) provide the strongest evidence yet that liquid water flows intermittently on present-day Mars.

Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times.

“Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny — is flowing today on the surface of Mars.”

These downhill flows, known as recurring slope lineae (RSL), often have been described as possibly related to liquid water. The new findings of hydrated salts on the slopes point to what that relationship may be to these dark features. The hydrated salts would lower the freezing point of a liquid brine, just as salt on roads here on Earth causes ice and snow to melt more rapidly. Scientists say it’s likely a shallow subsurface flow, with enough water wicking to the surface to explain the darkening.

And even the densest scientist will admit that where there is water, there could very well be life. After all, Earth is made mostly of water, and you’re here right now, right? Reading this and taking it all in. Mouth agape. Jaw dropped.

Monday’s bulletin could be the first step in solving David Bowie’s decades-old question, found in this tidy melody:

“It took multiple spacecraft over several years to solve this mystery, and now we know there is liquid water on the surface of this cold, desert planet,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “It seems that the more we study Mars, the more we learn how life could be supported and where there are resources to support life in the future.”