NASA has surprised the public with its recent announcement of the discovery of flowing water on present-day Mars, but another reason to be surprised is the person behind the discovery. It was death metal guitarist, Lujendra "Luju" Ojha, who found the streaks flowing on the surface of Mars in 2011.

The 25-year-old, who described the discovery as the “biggest accident” of his life, helped confirm the signs of water on the Red Planet after his initial finding of its presence during an independent research as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona in 2011. Ojha worked with a colleague to analyse the photographs from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, or MRO.

To date, Ojha has worked with a team using the NASA instrument, called Crism, which helped them confirm that the present “streaks” on Mars are all covered with salts. The streaks, according to NASA, could be the result of liquid water flowing down on the planet’s canyons and crater walls during the summer months on Mars.

"I just happened to have the biggest accident of my life," Lujendra told Newsbeat following NASA's announcement. Apart from the flowing water on Mars, Ojha himself has been also the main topic, with many people talking about his photograph on his personal website, showing him with his electric guitar and heavy metal band, Gorkha.

"Yeah, that was an old life," Ojha told CNET. "I was kind of in poverty with music. I wasn't making enough money so I said screw music, let's go to science, maybe there's more money in it.”

However, Ojha said that “there isn't money in science either." Currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Ojha said that he is now "passionate about studying present day geological features on planetary bodies across the solar system.”

The graduate student wrote on his website that he has already worked on Earth, Mars, Moon, asteroids and comets and also classified various meteorites. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey also recently issued a special recognition for Ojha because of his “water on Mars” discovery.

"Certainly it's a great achievement for me and for the whole team as well,” Ojha told NBC News. “I am receiving great messages, which is encouraging me a lot. I am really feeling grateful."

With the presence of water on Mars, experts believe that it could be greatly possible to find signs of life on the planet. However, Ojha said that further research is needed to confirm the theory, and that they first need to find the source of water on Mars and “how much water exactly is there".

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