NASA confirms water on Mars

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Count Dookkake said:
Hmm, why would the ever-so-slightly increased chance of life on another planet bother our current administration?

Hmm, I can't think why...
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I'm not sure any political body should get overly worked up about potentially a few microbes. Now, if they have evidence of intelligent life somewhere THAT would at the least cause a rather strong ripple everywhere. (obviously if they do establish there is life on Mars that could lead to evidence of life on other planets, etc)
 
Link Man said:
In related news, the Coca-Cola Company will be releasing a new line of bottled water.
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I have a feeling Mars water would kill me, but I'd buy it at a high price!
 
Blackace said:
Mars is essentially in the same orbit...Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
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The entire planet is coated in iron oxide, but that doesn't make the atmosphere any less thin than the summit of Mt. Everest or any less dominated by carbon dioxide.
 
Blackace said:
Mars is essentially in the same orbit...Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
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Uh no. Or are you talking about mining the ice for oxygen for colonization?

This is frozen water, the canals you speak of were formed millions of years ago when Mars could support liquid water. Now its atmosphere is so thin that any liquid water on the surface would boil away.

You cannot breathe on Mars, the atmosphere is 90% CO2, with only trace amounts of Oxygen. In fact, your blood would boil if you walked around without a pressure suit.

Hitokage said:
The entire planet is coated in iron oxide, but that doesn't make the atmosphere any less thin than the summit of Mt. Everest or any less dominated by carbon dioxide.
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Even at the summit of Everest the air pressure is far higher than the average on Mars, IIRC.
 
Even talking about colonization, extracting elemental oxygen from the Martian atmosphere would be FAR better than trying to extract it from water.


Even at the summit of Everest the air pressure is far higher than the average on Mars, IIRC.
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Yes, but naturally no other spot of land on Earth experiences lower air pressure so it's the best reference for comparison.
 
:lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

too bad no one noticed that's the infamous Dan Quayle Mars quote..
 
Hitokage said:
Even talking about colonization, extracting elemental oxygen from the Martian atmosphere would be FAR better than trying to extract it from water.
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Well (entering space geek mode) mining the ice would also give you hydrogen for rocket fuel to get off Mars, so you might as well take the oxygen while you're at it. And isn't Oxygen at most 1-2% of the Martian atmosphere? Seems like the volume necessary in a local area just wouldn't be enough.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
What makes scientists so sure that other species need water to survive? Or that Pluto's climate isn't perfect for a certain species?
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Because H2O is necessary is every single life form on Earth (our only known example), across the entire spectrum of life from microscopic on up.

Is it possible that other forms of life do not require it? Certainly. (Hence the disclaimer "Life as we know it) But is it likely? Probably not in our solar system.
 
AndersTheSwede said:
Well (entering space geek mode) mining the ice would also give you hydrogen for rocket fuel to get off Mars, so you might as well take the oxygen while you're at it.
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This involves splitting water.
And isn't Oxygen at most 1-2% of the Martian atmosphere? Seems like the volume necessary in a local area just wouldn't be enough.
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Carbon dioxide is 1 part carbon and 2 parts oxygen by volume, and 72.7% oxygen by mass. Also, the process of extraction is already in ubiquitous use.
 
Hitokage said:
This involves splitting water.
Carbon dioxide is 1 part carbon and 2 parts oxygen by volume, and 72.7% oxygen by mass. :P
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/smacks forehead. Now see, this is why I didn't take chemistry in college. :lol
 
Yeah, splitting water into elemental oxygen and hydrogen is usually a dead end, unless you're not talking energy. Entire power plants are devoted to electrolysis in aluminum production.
 
Isn't there anyway for man, over time and advances in technology, to influence the environment so that life will eventually be possible, maybe even sustainable?
 
Heh, just looked it up, and the pressure recorded at the summit of Mt. Everest is 30 kPa.

Summit of Olympus Mons? 30 Pa. One of the lowest elevations on the surface brings that up to 1.1 kPa or so, but even that is 11 millibars. The mean surface pressure is 600 Pa.

TheGrayGhost said:
Isn't there anyway for man, over time and advances in technology, to influence the environment so that life will eventually be possible, maybe even sustainable?
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Well, Mars not having a magnetosphere is a huge problem.
 
Um... just to clarify some points for everyone here.

Breathing is regulated by both the partial pressures of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. Even if there is a thin atmosphere, you can still breathe provided that the pO2 and pCO2 levels are high enough. Your blood won't boil on Mars, but you would asphixiate pretty quickly since all the regulatory signals would shut down or go haywire.

Cave dwelling would be the easiest way to support human colonization, as it would be easy to maintain a contained atmosphere underneath layers of rock. It would also provide protection from ionizing radiation.
 
How much do we know about the mineral composition of Martian soil? Are the proper inorganic nutrients even there for us to introduce plants if we were able to heat the planet enough for them not to freeze?
 
Cianalas said:
How much do we know about the mineral composition of Martian soil? Are the proper inorganic nutrients even there for us to introduce plants if we were able to heat the planet enough for them not to freeze?
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We have a rover there right now figuring that stuff out, and so far it seems good enough to grow asparagus.
 
Hitokage said:
We have a rover there right now figuring that stuff out, and so far it seems good enough to grow asparagus.
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Well that would be a start. All Earth had for a while was patches of moss and lichen-like plants here and there and look how that turned out,
albeit after millions of years
 
SRG01 said:
Um... just to clarify some points for everyone here.

Breathing is regulated by both the partial pressures of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide. Even if there is a thin atmosphere, you can still breathe provided that the pO2 and pCO2 levels are high enough. Your blood won't boil on Mars, but you would asphixiate pretty quickly since all the regulatory signals would shut down or go haywire.

Cave dwelling would be the easiest way to support human colonization, as it would be easy to maintain a contained atmosphere underneath layers of rock. It would also provide protection from ionizing radiation.
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Also, you can suck air out of rocks and set them on fire.
 
SRG01 said:
Fungus could probably live off the ionizing radiation, provided there's water available.
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Fungi can do that? I always thought they were completely heterotrophic. Wouldn't they need some sort of preexisting organic material to utilize?
 
Shouldn't this be huge news? I mean, I don't even see this on the front page of Yahoo or anything, but this seems like it should be a really big deal.

Has water been discovered on any other planets, or is this the first?
 
Jack Scofield said:
Shouldn't this be huge news? I mean, I don't even see this on the front page of Yahoo or anything, but this seems like it should be a really big deal.

Has water been discovered on any other planets, or is this the first?
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Well NASA only confirms it now, but it has been known and proven for quite some time. Ever since the first photos proof of water.
 
Jack Scofield said:
Shouldn't this be huge news? I mean, I don't even see this on the front page of Yahoo or anything, but this seems like it should be a really big deal.

Has water been discovered on any other planets, or is this the first?
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Mercury, Venus: Indications
Jupiter, Saturn: Yes, Voyager
Uranus, Neptune: Yes, I don't know why exactly though.
Quite some moons show evidence of water as well.

No oceans or something like that, as I read it.

Outside of our solar system: Dunno.

Edit: Finding water on a planet is not such a big deal though. A high percentage of comets consists of ice, and some hit planets eventually.
I'd say a more interesting fact is the amount of water. If a planet with a vast ocean would be found, that would be a much bigger deal than some gas giant with a few frozen clouds.
 
Jack Scofield said:
Shouldn't this be huge news? I mean, I don't even see this on the front page of Yahoo or anything, but this seems like it should be a really big deal.

Has water been discovered on any other planets, or is this the first?
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Saw it this morning on the news.
 
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Mars atmosphere is so thin, it would actually benefit from inducing greenhouse gases.
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It's funny how Mars and Venus are pretty much the polar opposites of each other.

wmat said:
Finding water on a planet is not such a big deal though. A high percentage of comets consists of ice, and some hit planets eventually.
I'd say a more interesting fact is the amount of water. If a planet with a vast ocean would be found, that would be a much bigger deal than some gas giant with a few frozen clouds.
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Which is why Jupiter's moon Europa is so interesting. Who knows whats in the ocean underneath the layer of ice.
 
mars_believe.jpg
 
BakedPigeon said:
Wouldn't it be possible for another race or "beings" if you will to not need water to exist? What if something else besides water is their key to life?
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You mean like if there are gas people living on the likes of Jupiter and Saturn? thats too scary to be real.
 
DeathNote said:
my mind gets blown when i really think about mars.

we see it as red dirt, nothing more.

but when you think about it has a huge surface area.

there are still secrets to uncover on earth from digging and searching. especially in the ocean floor.

we have yet to do massive digging on the planet.
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We should start digging deep into Mars just incase we find our universe's largest supply of oil. Imagine how fast the international space pipe line would be built.
 
_leech_ said:
It honestly looks chopped. I'd want to see a higher resolution version of that shot.
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That's like, Iran-level photoshopping right there.

I'd love to see Iran's space probe finding proof of life on Mars. Heck, that would make a great GAF thread.
 
Great, now humanity will go to Mars and drink the water only to find it has microscopic aliens in it that will then control out bodies after 20 years of the human race drinking it. :D
 
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