NASA to Announce 'Significant Findings' of Water on Mars Tuesday!

Space DOT com ^ | 3-1-04 | Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer

[Truth29]

Maybe the found a shadow vessel?

[Dark Glasses and Corncob Pipe]

Just think, the underground bypass steals much of the flow for the grid. Back in the 50's the "Maid of the Mist" was really a ride! There was a deadly whirlpool much closer to the falls, also...

This Mars business is a little silly, isn't it?

[StriperSniper]

Thanks, hope they had some good stuff in the dart for him. ;-)

Good to see you prowling around.

[NYC Republican]

Has anyone read "Deception Point" (by Dan Brown)? Eerily similar... Excellent book, by the way, unfortunately, like DaVinci Code, his endings are horrendous.

[searchandrecovery]

Two Words: Sea Monkeys.

[SunkenCiv]

Few scientists doubt that Mars was once warmer and wet.

Maybe most scientists smoke dope.

Mars' atmospheric pressure is the same as would be found at 40 miles altitude on Earth. Liquid water can only exist for short periods, probably due to impact, less possibly due to volcanism, and then only in the presence of water vapor from the same source (the permafrost) which would provide the required denser atmosphere in a transitory way.

Water Gushed 'Recently' on Mars, Experts Say
by Maggie Fox
Feb 20 2002

If the water comes from a geothermal source, similar to geysers on Earth, that would mean a source of both heat and water on a planet where the average temperature on the surface of Mars is far below freezing. It stays so cold on Mars that everything should be frozen hard to the depth of several miles.

Mars Becomes Warm And Wet For Brief Periods
by Victor R. Baker
23-Jul-2001

Confronted by Viking images of young fluvial and glacial features on Mars -- stream valleys that apparently were formed by precipitation and glacial features over large areas of the planet, Baker, Robert G. Strom and other UA scientists in 1991 theorized what has become known as the "MEGAOUTFLO" model. Basically, the hypothesis says that over the long term, water and volatiles remain frozen as ground ice and ground water in the subsurface because Mars is so distant from the sun and extremely cold. The perennially frozen permafrost acts like a cap on a soda bottle. And just as gas and water in a capped soda bottle explode when heated, sporadic bursts of internal planetary heat trigger the dramatic release of gas and water locked under the permafrost.

We also have to remember that the only reason NASA et al wants so desperately to find water on Mars is to justify bankrolling human missions to Mars. One obvious step in proving the concept of going to Mars and back with humans is a sample return mission, but Viking already found microbial life in the soil. NASA denied it then, and continues to deny it now.

New research discounts Mars ocean evidence
by Jeff Foust
April 7 2001

In a paper published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, planetary scientists at the University of Arizona and MIT said that features in images of the planet previously thought to be remains of ancient shorelines are more likely linked to the planet's volcanoes. Paul Withers of the University of Arizona and Gregory Neumann of MIT decided to reexamine the MOLA data for some of the paleoshoreline features identified in the earlier work. They found, though, a closer correlation between the features and tectonic activity than any processes related to the formation of shorelines. According to Withers, the key piece of evidence was the terraces identified in the earlier study. Instead, those features are more likely tectonic stress ridges created by massive volcanism earlier in the planet's history.

[djf]

We have plainly seen many things that seem to be puching the envelope for a "dead" world. I noticed that the announcement did not include a biologist...

Don't be surprised if we see some pics tomorrow that have not been released yet!

[Socks C.]

They have even mapped which parts of the polar caps are ice and which are C02.

. . . and kitty litter? How's that situation shakin out?

[nightdriver]

"The main question is whether any of that water remains at the surface in liquid form."

It would be very doubtful.

With an average temperature of munus 60 degrees F water would not be around in liquid form.

With an atmospheric pressure of between 4 and 8 millibars, (Earth's atmospheric sea-level pressure is 1,000 millibars) water's boiling point and freezing points get within 8 degrees (F) of each other.

Good luck finding any water at all!

[FireTrack]

Thanks for the ping,

I just received advance copy of Steve Squyres introduction at tomorrows Mars press conference!

March 2, 2004, Mars Press Conference

Steve Squyres:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. We are very, very pleased to call you here today to announce an historic finding reached after the most careful and painstaking analyses.

As you may or may not know, Opportunity traveled a little over 24 meters to reach a rock target called "Guadalupe" where the RAT was last used. Spirit on the other side of the planet Mars traveled over 111 meters to also reach a RAT target. As I’m sure you must know, each rover has six wheels. We have discovered that after multiplying distances traveled to date times the number of wheels on both rovers (one dozen) an unprecedented and historical event has occurred.

That event stunned us after we realized a uniquely human invention “the wheel” has now traveled over one mile across the surface of Mars. We have available photographic evidence of each meter traveled along with wheel slippage data adding additional certainty of this historical accomplishment.

Just downloaded as well are 66 new panoramic camera images of the historic, first ever sundial that humanity sent to another planet and inscribed with the motto "Two Worlds, One Sun,” The sundials will continue to reveal the passage of the hours and seasons as the sun moves across the Martian sky.

The sundial design team included Jon Lomberg, an artist and creative consultant to the Mauna Kea Center for Astronomy Education, Hawaii; Tyler Nordgren, an artist and astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.; sundial expert Woodruff Sullivan, professor of astronomy at the University of Washington; Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society; Cornell University astronomers Steven Squyres and Jim Bell; and Bill Nye, the television writer and host of the public television children's science program, "Bill Nye The Science Guy."

Finally, we have an entire week’s listing of upcoming songs that will be radioed to each rover!

:-)

[Cold Heat]

They think the water is in a chemical compound, like a brine.

They now have proof of the composition I believe.

[Cold Heat]

LOL!

[gitmo]

Interesting take Don.
I will have to agree, the announcement of life on Mars would be delayed as they do not know how to do it.

Didn't they announce that during the dark ages of the '90s?

[gitmo]

Have they determined the soil temperature at various depths?

[gitmo]

Have they determined the soil temperature at various depths?

[Cold Heat]

yes, sort of.

There was a experiment run on the old lander that had a positive result for some amino acid.

That is all I recall.

Better proof would indeed be a fossil, or microscopic evidence that is un-refutable.

I do not know for sure, if they will get anything like that this outing, but we continue to speculate.

Now, the water has always been talked about, but not located. If water is sub surface, then fuel can be manufactured from it.

That is what is important for a manned flight.

[gitmo]

I thought they found some meteorites determined to be of Martian origin that contained fossils. They were found in the Antarctic.

[DaughterofEve]

[Cold Heat]

Yeah, I do not consider that find a big thing, as far as the present is concerned. We are talking about a very old rock that came from the earliest times of the galaxy.

It was meaningless to me.

[ElkGroveDan]

Interesting take Don. I will have to agree, the announcement of life on Mars would be delayed as they do not know how to do it. Didn't they announce that during the dark ages of the '90s?

Yes I believe Bill Clinton told Dick Morris about life on Mars (before the rest of us knew) as Morris having his toes sucked by a high-priced hooker.