Posted on 10/10/2011 4:38:18 PM PDT by decimon
Mars Express was able to accomplish what so many other spacecraft have tried and failed by using a SPICAM(2) spectrometer
The search for water on Mars has been ongoing for quite some time now, with Mars rovers like NASA's Spirit and Opportunity being two examples of those who have found clues that point to a once-tropical past on the dusty red planet billions of years ago.
Now, the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft has discovered that Mars' atmosphere holds water vapor in a supersaturated state.
Mars Express was able to accomplish what so many other spacecraft have tried and failed by using a SPICAM(2) spectrometer. While other spacecraft have used tools that concentrate only on surface data, which only analyzes the horizontal component of the Martian atmosphere, SPICAM(2) utilizes solar occultation to observe the vertical component of the atmosphere, which is critical for understanding Mars' hydrological cycle. Solar occultation studies light from the Sun in Martian atmosphere during sunrise and sunset.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailytech.com ...
Wasser matter ping.
vas is los?
vas is los?
John Carter ping!
No, Vas is still in his cage.
I wish I could find it now, but years back when this search started, there was a cartoon showing a Mars Lander sticking its probe into one of those ice boxes you see outside a 7-11, transmitting “Eureka! Ice!” - while mom and pop Martian were sitting on the porch of their country store looking at the device with a WTH look on their face.
Well, they haven't found any Martians yet but there's still time. Maybe they're underground.
Some just came up. The latest pic from the Rover:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supersaturation
Examples — Carbonated water is a supersaturated solution of carbon dioxide gas in water. At the elevated pressure in the bottle, more carbon dioxide can dissolve in water than at atmospheric pressure. At atmospheric pressure, the carbon dioxide gas escapes very slowly from the supersaturated liquid.
[iow, this is more evidence that the water on Mars arrives from space.]
Es ist der Ding vas ist los.
As in, a certain amount of space dust is ice (thus, arriving continuously) or just in the form of comets that strike once in a zillion years?
In a book Impact Earth: Asteroids, Comets and Meteoroids: The Growing Threat by Austen Atkinson, I seem to remember reading that we get a regular rain of ice here on earth from comet dust and space debris. Unfortunately, the book does not have a very good Index so I couldn’t find the info. on how many tons a year are added to our water supply.
Comet’s water ‘like that of Earth’s oceans’
BBC | October 5, 2011 | Jason Palmer
Posted on 10/05/2011 6:41:44 PM PDT by decimon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2788555/posts
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