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Abundant Water Ice found on Mars

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  • Abundant Water Ice found on Mars

    Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice

    pia22077-1041.jpg

    Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have found eight sites where thick deposits of ice beneath Mars' surface are exposed in faces of eroding slopes.

    These eight scarps, with slopes as steep as 55 degrees, reveal new information about the internal layered structure of previously detected underground ice sheets in Mars' middle latitudes.

    The ice was likely deposited as snow long ago. The deposits are exposed in cross section as relatively pure water ice, capped by a layer one to two yards (or meters) thick of ice-cemented rock and dust. They hold clues about Mars' climate history. They also may make frozen water more accessible than previously thought to future robotic or human exploration missions.

    Researchers who located and studied the scarp sites with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on MRO reported the findings today in the journal Science. The sites are in both northern and southern hemispheres of Mars, at latitudes from about 55 to 58 degrees, equivalent on Earth to Scotland or the tip of South America.

    “There is shallow ground ice under roughly a third of the Martian surface, which records the recent history of Mars,” said the study's lead author, Colin Dundas of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. "What we’ve seen here are cross-sections through the ice that give us a 3-D view with more detail than ever before.”

    ...
    Astronauts' access to Martian water

    The new study not only suggests that underground water ice lies under a thin covering over wide areas, it also identifies eight sites where ice is directly accessible, at latitudes with less hostile conditions than at Mars' polar ice caps. "Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and a shovel and get all the water they need," Byrne said.

    https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/ste...-of-buried-ice


  • #2
    Originally posted by Sparko View Post
    Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]25929[/ATTACH]

    Researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) have found eight sites where thick deposits of ice beneath Mars' surface are exposed in faces of eroding slopes.

    These eight scarps, with slopes as steep as 55 degrees, reveal new information about the internal layered structure of previously detected underground ice sheets in Mars' middle latitudes.

    The ice was likely deposited as snow long ago. The deposits are exposed in cross section as relatively pure water ice, capped by a layer one to two yards (or meters) thick of ice-cemented rock and dust. They hold clues about Mars' climate history. They also may make frozen water more accessible than previously thought to future robotic or human exploration missions.

    Researchers who located and studied the scarp sites with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on MRO reported the findings today in the journal Science. The sites are in both northern and southern hemispheres of Mars, at latitudes from about 55 to 58 degrees, equivalent on Earth to Scotland or the tip of South America.

    “There is shallow ground ice under roughly a third of the Martian surface, which records the recent history of Mars,” said the study's lead author, Colin Dundas of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona. "What we’ve seen here are cross-sections through the ice that give us a 3-D view with more detail than ever before.”

    ...
    Astronauts' access to Martian water

    The new study not only suggests that underground water ice lies under a thin covering over wide areas, it also identifies eight sites where ice is directly accessible, at latitudes with less hostile conditions than at Mars' polar ice caps. "Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and a shovel and get all the water they need," Byrne said.

    https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/ste...-of-buried-ice

    That coupled with findings for bacterial life on the Earth that can survive in ice in extreme cold raises some very interesting possibilities ...

    https://www.livescience.com/34657-co...ermafrost.html


    Jim
    My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

    If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

    This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by oxmixmudd View Post
      That coupled with findings for bacterial life on the Earth that can survive in ice in extreme cold raises some very interesting possibilities ...

      https://www.livescience.com/34657-co...ermafrost.html


      Jim
      Even if nothing is still alive in the ice, if the ice is from frozen liquid water (as opposed to just condensation that froze) then it could have had life in it at one time and it could be preserved in the ice.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
        Even if nothing is still alive in the ice, if the ice is from frozen liquid water (as opposed to just condensation that froze) then it could have had life in it at one time and it could be preserved in the ice.
        They're thinking it probably fell as snow and then compacted. But there are clear indications of different tints indicating layers that probably included more or less dust. On Earth, life's abundant enough that our dust would include bacteria. So, there's a chance.

        Incidentally, the images you'll see are pretty heavily color enhanced - the stuff's not actually that blue, but is blue relative to Mars.


        EDITED TO ADD:
        The paper, for the curious:
        http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6372/199
        "Any sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from trolling."

        Comment


        • #5
          Is it on their to-do list to send a drill to dig up an long ice core and analyze?
          "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
          "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
          "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Sparko View Post
            Even if nothing is still alive in the ice, if the ice is from frozen liquid water (as opposed to just condensation that froze) then it could have had life in it at one time and it could be preserved in the ice.
            I know one biologist who said "Gimme thirty minutes on the ground near one of those icy brine sources and a field microscope and I'll tell you right away if there's life on Mars."

            However I do think we need to figure out how to avoid contaminating Mars with bacteria from Earth. Otherwise the life we discover might just be life that hitched a ride with us.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
              However I do think we need to figure out how to avoid contaminating Mars with bacteria from Earth. Otherwise the life we discover might just be life that hitched a ride with us.
              Spacecraft routinely go through a bacterial decontamination process pre-launch to prevent exactly that. What more needs to be figured out?
              "I hate him passionately", he's "a demonic force" - Tucker Carlson, in private, on Donald Trump
              "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism" - George Orwell
              "[Capitalism] as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of evils. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy" - Albert Einstein

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                I know one biologist who said "Gimme thirty minutes on the ground near one of those icy brine sources and a field microscope and I'll tell you right away if there's life on Mars."

                However I do think we need to figure out how to avoid contaminating Mars with bacteria from Earth. Otherwise the life we discover might just be life that hitched a ride with us.
                Even if we totally eliminate new contamination, there will still very possibly be contamination with life transferred to Mars from Earth via large meteor strikes. Samples have been found on earth from other planets, it could easily go both ways.
                Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

                Comment


                • #9
                  Better if it were icecream rather than ice.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    The totality of what this discovery means is that there is water ice on Mars.
                    Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by rwatts View Post
                      Better if it were icecream rather than ice.
                      Nice seeing you around.

                      I'm always still in trouble again

                      "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                      "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                      "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by rwatts View Post
                        Better if it were icecream rather than ice.
                        Hello - good to know you are still about:

                        How have things been, what have you been up to?


                        Jim
                        My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. James 2:1

                        If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not  bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless James 1:26

                        This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; James 1:19

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Jedidiah View Post
                          Even if we totally eliminate new contamination, there will still very possibly be contamination with life transferred to Mars from Earth via large meteor strikes. Samples have been found on earth from other planets, it could easily go both ways.
                          Its a bit more likely that a rock would come from Mars to Earth than the other direction. The amount of velocity change needed to get to Mars from Earth's surface to Mars impact is a lot higher than from the surface of Mars to Earth. It takes at least 12km/s to get to Mars and... 2.4-3km/s to get to Earth from Mars, depending how the positions of the planets in their orbits. The gravity of Earth is a lot stronger and harder to get away from. The Earth is also a much bigger target than Mars compared to the size of its orbit.

                          Though the alternative can't be ruled out either. It would certainly be interesting to see if and when they find life.

                          I've often speculated on how we could rule these things out.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by TheLurch View Post
                            They're thinking it probably fell as snow and then compacted. But there are clear indications of different tints indicating layers that probably included more or less dust. On Earth, life's abundant enough that our dust would include bacteria. So, there's a chance.

                            Incidentally, the images you'll see are pretty heavily color enhanced - the stuff's not actually that blue, but is blue relative to Mars.


                            EDITED TO ADD:
                            The paper, for the curious:
                            http://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6372/199
                            yeah I know about the color enhancement





                            ...everyone knows the water on Mars is red.


                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Leonhard View Post
                              Its a bit more likely that a rock would come from Mars to Earth than the other direction. The amount of velocity change needed to get to Mars from Earth's surface to Mars impact is a lot higher than from the surface of Mars to Earth. It takes at least 12km/s to get to Mars and... 2.4-3km/s to get to Earth from Mars, depending how the positions of the planets in their orbits. The gravity of Earth is a lot stronger and harder to get away from. The Earth is also a much bigger target than Mars compared to the size of its orbit.

                              Though the alternative can't be ruled out either. It would certainly be interesting to see if and when they find life.

                              I've often speculated on how we could rule these things out.
                              If we do go to Mars I hope we do bring bacteria.

                              I've read War of the Worlds.
                              I DENOUNCE DONALD J. TRUMP AND ALL HIS IMMORAL ACTS.

                              Comment

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