Posted on 07/25/2018 10:02:21 AM PDT by jazusamo
Scientists have uncovered a "a stable body of liquid water" on Mars, in what some are calling a "game changer" in the search for alien life.
What is believed to be liquid water is sitting below Mars' southern polar ice cap and is described as a "well-defined, 20-kilometer-wide zone." 20 kilometers is roughly 12.5 miles.
The findings, which are published in the journal Science, were made possibly by Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS), an instrument that resides on the Mars Express spacecraft. MARSIS surveyed Mars' Planum Australe region between May 2012 and December 2015 and utilized radar pulses, sending them through the surface and the polar ice caps, ultimately measuring how the radio waves came back.
The pulses that came back created the aforementioned "well-defined, 20-kilometer-wide zone" and found that the radar reflected the brightness of the liquid water. The study's abstract notes that it is surrounded by "much less reflective areas," a sign that it is indeed water.
The team that wrote the study, including lead author Professor Roberto Orosei, have ruled out any other causes for the brightness.
Speaking with the BBC, Orosei said it probably isn't "a very large lake," but added that this is a body of water and not runoff from a glacier or something else.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
So?
Its only a big deal if they see intelligent life water skiing on it.
So we can colonize now that water has been found?
How? The vapor pressure of water should be such that it boils off at rather low temps in Martian atmosphere.
Though, I bet it isn’t “pure” water, so with the right salts this makes sense.
There is NO LIFE on Mars! No human looking beings on Mars!
Who cares if there could be life? Or a stupid living molecule or something... LOL
“Liquid Water”
Is there any other kind?
Great comment, heartland!
That would be some really, really expensive waterfront property.............
Just send up a Musk boring machine and submarines.
Not if the Real Estate agents get there first................
If this is a remnant of an ancient body of water, we’ll have to go looking for life.
Near the top of the list of terms and phrases to be banned: “game changer”
Lets get a trade deal before we rack up another trade deficit.
It's sealed under and ice cap................
water: ice, steam, liquid
There may be a problem with your criteria...
Well said. :^)
That and ‘Bombshell’...............
Elon Musk must be jumping around like Tom Cruise on Oprah Winfrey’s couch... Of course, the only question is... Will he be able to make his get away before they figure out he’s a fraud.
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