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Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

nasa.gov

41–50 of 64 posts

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#41

I hope so but this type of finding has been wrong before. See the recent discrediting of liquid "brines" on Mars: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001910351... Until a rover or other probe tests it directly, I'll remain skeptical.

Incorrect, you're confusing different findings that are totally different areas of research merely because they have "water" in common.

We have long known that there is tons of frozen water on Mars outside of the poles. Through many individual discoveries we've learned about shallow subsurface permafrost over much of Mars; we've learned of a long history of sizable quantities of liquid water on Mars; and we've learned of subsurface glaciers of very ice that are almost entirely water ice by volume. The brines research is still an open question, as in all scientific research there is a back and forth between different interpretations of the given data, it's quite possible it will ultimately not shake out as a valid interpretation (but it's also a bit much to say that the brine theory has been "discredited" merely because an argument was made against it). Regardless, the existence of subsurface glaciers, of which this is an extension of, is a far less controversial result. We know Mars has subsurface water ice, we know some of that is in the form of glaciers, these are merely certain examples of those glaciers that are significantly exposed to the surface.

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we want to search Mars for life before we contaminate it then we need to launch a crash program to do so now , because our window is swiftly expiring. Right now a small group with minimal resources (on the to build and launch stuff into space scale) could likely launch a cubesat with some sort of bacterial payload that would eventually get to Mars. Such a stunt is only going to get easier in the next few decades.…

>could likely launch a cubesat with some sort of bacterial payload that would eventually get to Mars Curious how this might work, given the energy required not only to escape Earth's orbit, but to get into another one around Mars and crash into it. It's my understanding that cubesats don't have anything that could do any of that stuff, and a larger craft doing the heavy lifting would be way more complicated.

A solar sail and a bit of patience?

It would take some serious engineering chops to pull it off, but it's not totally implausible.

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#43
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Even there?" Forget the farm, this has nothing to do with farming per se . It doesn't matter if the crew does nothing but eat pre-sealed sterile goop. The problem is that ensuring a sterile barrier so nothing gets out of your habitat-- especially when spacesuited living humans must pass through regularly -- is somewhere between incredibly expensive and just impossible.

So Earth bacteria will go out and contaminate Mars. sooner or later it would happen. We could still study the original Martian biome, if that exists.

The problem is, with Earth life present on Mars you can no longer be sure that the life you find there wasn't brought in by colonists.

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Earth bacteria will go out and contaminate Mars. sooner or later it would happen. We could still study the original Martian biome, if that exists.

The problem is, with Earth life present on Mars you can no longer be sure that the life you find there wasn't brought in by colonists.

Well, if they could be that alike, then it's not much worth studying anyway...

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#46
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is, with Earth life present on Mars you can no longer be sure that the life you find there wasn't brought in by colonists.

Well, if they could be that alike, then it's not much worth studying anyway...

It would be worth studying - if they were much alike, the first obvious questions to answer would be "why" and "which came first".

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#47
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book (or rather books) is even better!

Upvoting both of you for referencing The Expanse (And the books, i.e Leviathan Wakes)... It's so good to see something that resembles hard-sci-fi on television.

The Expanse does resemble hard sci-fi. But besides the issue of gravity, its especially the issue of water (ice) where they seem to deviate from reality.

Basically Ceres is made out of ice - why would they need ice haulers to bring ice there; how could there possibly be a water shortage?

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#48
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upvoting both of you for referencing The Expanse (And the books, i.e Leviathan Wakes)... It's so good to see something that resembles hard-sci-fi on television.

The Expanse does resemble hard sci-fi. But besides the issue of gravity, its especially the issue of water (ice) where they seem to deviate from reality. Basically Ceres is made out of ice - why would they need ice haulers to bring ice there; how could there possibly be a water shortage?

This is already covered in the book. The water ice on Ceres had already been used up in the colonisation efforts of Earth and then later: Mars.

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#49
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if they could be that alike, then it's not much worth studying anyway...

It would be worth studying - if they were much alike, the first obvious questions to answer would be "why" and "which came first".

Worth studying is an interesting term. I've got a bunch of things which are worth fixing, but none of them get prioritised. Would you say that it would be preferable to block the creation of a colony on the basis that it interferes research that might happen one day?

Personally I'd say no.

Re: Buried Ice Water Discovered on Mars

#50
post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is, with Earth life present on Mars you can no longer be sure that the life you find there wasn't brought in by colonists.

Well, if they could be that alike, then it's not much worth studying anyway...

I think you've just made a compelling case for why we can make every species on earth extinct, apart from us and 'nothing of value would be lost'.
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