"Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor. Not a bricklayer."
Posted on 12/24/2017 7:12:32 PM PST by BenLurkin
By modeling the reactions of water with the crusts of early Earth and Mars, they found that the Martian crust can hold more than twice the amount of water as Earth, effectively drying out the surface of Mars.
The team’s findings suggest that almost 1,000 feet (300 m) of Martian surface water could have been absorbed into the planet’s crust and is now locked-up in microscopic mineral structures.
“It would be very difficult to sustain life as we know it on Mars even if surface water existed on the planet for a couple million years,” the researchers said.
..
“Our study shows that the composition of a rocky planet’s crust plays an important part in determining whether water will remain on a planet’s surface over deep time.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sci-news.com ...
What of the life on Mars is not "as we know it" ?
I think we don't have a full evaluation of what "life" is capable of.
"What of IF the life on Mars is not "as we know it" ?
This theory doesn’t hold water.
Humans to blame!
Space travel is going to require better propulsion systems, and hopefully gravity control. Setting gravity aside for now, why aren’t we spending nearly ALL of our resources on a productive propulsion system?
I think we need more physics and less geology, and now. Did Columbus want geologist or better boats? We need better boats, then we can get geologist.
Another bit of evidence that points to life being rare.
I believe that life has to be as we know it, but I’m a carbon chauvinist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_chauvinism
Marvin the Martian... 😀
Merry Christmas from Mars.
Let me suggest that y'all ponder on this for a while before speculating on "life as we know it."
AFIK no one knows what creates "life" ab initio, let alone abstract morality.
There was life on earth before oxygen. Who knows what forms it can take?
because we're not all space kadets with total economic ignorance and also without the slightest grasp of physics
because we're not all space kadets with total economic ignorance and also without the slightest grasp of physics ...
Actually, we know of several ways to produce a far better propulsion system than we employ now. They are politically unpopular.
For instance, look up "Project Orion" and "nuclear pulse propulsion". This would get you almost anywhere in our solar system you might want to go with payloads measured in thousands of tons, not pounds.
Since the idea of significant fallout during lift off is not particularly appealing, think of power beaming to get into initial orbit. FALCON was a nuclear reactor pumped continuous laser which, in one incarnation, could provide a ground based power source to launch multiple small payloads for assembly in space where fallout is not really a concern. Megawatts of laser power operating continuously for years. Because it is a reactor rather than a bomb, radioactive by products are easily contained and controlled.
There are several real issues with both concepts, but the two biggest stumbling blocks are:
(1) You will notice that both contain the word "nuclear". Politically unpopular, and even worse:
(2) really developing either or both would require huge budgets, and much longer than 8 years.
Kennedy set the moon as a goal and took the flak for spending on "pie in the sky", but Nixon was President when we got there and, at the time got a lot of the credit for the accomplishment. Most Presidents know at least some history and this issue is not lost on them.
* * * * * * * * *
These are not the only seriously better propulsion concepts but they are both in the open literature and are 50 and nearly 25 years old respectively.
Politics is sometimes harder than rocket science...
Yeah, I was going to suggest that. Maybe watch the baking time and the oven temp next time.
Liberals? Jus’ sayin’...
“...they found that the Martian crust can hold more than twice the amount of water as Earth,...”
Study: Deep beneath the earth, more water than in all the oceans combined
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3300920/posts
Earth may have underground ‘ocean’ three times that on surface
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3167417/posts
Huge ‘Ocean’ Discovered Inside Earth
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1794270/posts
Kola Superdeep Borehole
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/kola-superdeep-borehole
And what did the Russians find in the deepest borehole besides granite decreasing in density and increasingly more porous? Increasingly more water.
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