Posted on 11/29/2016 5:56:59 PM PST by Ray76
Frozen beneath a region of cracked and pitted plains on Mars lies about as much water as what's in Lake Superior, largest of the Great Lakes, researchers using NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have determined.
Scientists examined part of Mars' Utopia Planitia region, in the mid-northern latitudes, with the orbiter's ground-penetrating Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument. Analyses of data from more than 600 overhead passes with the onboard radar instrument reveal a deposit more extensive in area than the state of New Mexico. The deposit ranges in thickness from about 260 feet (80 meters) to about 560 feet (170 meters), with a composition that's 50 to 85 percent water ice, mixed with dust or larger rocky particles.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpl.nasa.gov ...
Lake Superior, eh? Why this fresh water lake and not the Dead Sea...huh?
You would have to bring the dirt. Their dirt is dead. Water can be used for a lot of things, but you need a way to heat it. And on mars I don’t imagine there are a lot of fossil fuels laying around.
The challenges are huge.
The O2 is the easy part. Use nuclear generators to separate the O2 from the water.
food can be grown without soil. That’s pretty much how modern ag is done anyway once all the nutrients are gone from decades of tilling, runoff and general mismanagement. Chemical fertilizer and the lifeless dirt just holds the plant up. Then of course there’s hydroponics. Nothing but nutrient water.
"We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything." --Thomas Edison.
It's a certainty that humans will colonize Mars. Unfortunately, you won't be around to see it.
I was thinking the other way around.
Your screen name is very apropos.
See, we are already solving the problems!
Radiation, dont forget radiation.
Fool’s gold—at any expense except their own.
Theoretically they can split the water/ice jnto oxygen and hydrogen. A fuel, a catalyst, and breathable air to mix with nitrogen.
Elon Musk from Telsa is planning the first Mars supply mission in 2018. There may not be people on the first flight, but equipment will be going.
.....................................................
After he does that I hope he figures out how to stop his cars from blowing up .
Cher was born there!
a 300# person only weighs 60# on Mars. Eat up.
Dihydrogen Monoxide, DHMO for short, splits into 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen atom.
But we knew what you meant.
Oh, and DHMO is more commonly known as “water”.
I think nitrogen would be the key missing ingredient. Although I did just find an article where they have discovered nitrogen in the soil - amounts of 1,000 parts per million. Released upon heating. Nitrogen was created they think from meteorite strikes and lightening. If that is the only source, I’m not sure we could produce enough on Mars. Our atmosphere is something like 80% nitrogen.
May be of interest to anyone living there and in need of potable water and irrigation for greenhouses...?
Not having all humanities eggs in one basket.
Maybe because the author lives in the US and is familiar with its size and volume? Superior is about 100 times the dead seas volume and since they were obviously benchmarking size that was the go-to analogy.
Or did you make the comment because you thought the salt content had jack all to do with the usefulness of the water from a technical standpoint?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.