Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Politics of Water: Ancient Sea on Mars Begs Human Exploration
space.com ^ | 3/24/04 | Tarig Malik

Posted on 03/24/2004 6:47:54 PM PST by KevinDavis

The discovery that a salty sea once covered party of the surface of Mars will have lasting effects on the future exploration of the red planet, according to scientists and policy experts inside and outside NASA.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: mars; nasa; space
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 last
To: GeronL
Uh Oh, what about the EMP????
81 posted on 03/24/2004 10:55:18 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: RadioAstronomer
Orion, NERVA and beyond
82 posted on 03/24/2004 10:58:39 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
If the hull is 3 feet thick, solid steel?

I've read that there are no limits in principle on how large and heavy the ship could be. The hull could be as thick as needed to protect the crew from radiation, cosmic rays, etc. If you need three feet, they could do three feet. Need ten feet? They could do that, too -- in principle. 'Course, in practice, I'm sure it's a different story. :-)

How thick is the thickest plating ever used on a battleship, for example? I think I saw six feet somewhere. The cool thing about this is that much of technology that we use building large warships could be used to build these spaceships. Some new things would be needed, but much of the technology is already there.

83 posted on 03/24/2004 11:09:17 PM PST by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
That last link I posted is very good. Its in 2 parts.

You'll want to save it and read them offline.

84 posted on 03/24/2004 11:13:04 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
The other ideas are good too. hehe. Its just that Orion is like a sledgehammer approach to this problem.
85 posted on 03/24/2004 11:14:06 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
I'll check them out, thanks! I've never heard of another scheme that would allow us to build really large ships on Earth and lift off into space with them. That's why I've always preferred Orion. I just can't imagine building a large well-shielded ship in orbit or on the Moon with present technology. Still, I'm always interested in ANY idea. Anything is better than nothing, as long as we get moving on it, that's for sure! And we've been spinning our wheels a lot the last 30 years or so, imo, so I'm ready to get moving. :-)
86 posted on 03/24/2004 11:23:31 PM PST by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
There wouldn't be any solid body in the solar system we couldn't put a man on in short order.

Oops, I just remembered Venus!

87 posted on 03/24/2004 11:43:10 PM PST by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Phil V.
Thanks for the ping Phil V.
88 posted on 03/25/2004 4:12:06 AM PST by fatima (My Granddaughter is in Iraq-We unite with all our troops and send our love-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: panaxanax
what the heck is so important about exploring Mars?

Long term it's important to the survival of the human species.
There will be, as in the past, nasty things hitting Earth large enough to end our civilization.
We must spread out enough that one hit can't take us all out.

89 posted on 03/25/2004 4:22:48 AM PST by ASA Vet ("Anyone who signed up after 11/28/97 is a newbie")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: irv
"New sources of resources, for one thing."

We have all the resources we need right here on Earth. Ocean water contains enough gold to supply our needs. Wouldn't it make more sense to develop better methods of extracting AU from the water here than spending Trillions of dollars that we don't have to get it from Mars. That is, IF there even is gold on Mars. It would be cost prohibitive to "mine" Mars for gold etc.

"Gold and iron are just rocks, you know. Mars has lots of rocks."

So does Earth. The problem is that environmental groups are standing in the way of gold/silver/diamond exploration. If, for some reason we did manage to find gold etc. on Mars and successfully transport tons of it back to Earth the value of gold etc. would plunge. What would we have accomplished?
90 posted on 03/25/2004 5:43:38 AM PST by panaxanax
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Phil V.
Thanks for the ping, Phil. This article should make for a good discussion in my class tonight.
91 posted on 03/25/2004 6:35:49 AM PST by r9etb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: GSHastings
There is nothing on Mars that would be anywhere close to valuable enough to justify the cost of obtaining it and transporting it to Earth.

So we'll use it there! Lift your eyes a little. Stop thinking small.

92 posted on 03/26/2004 9:19:30 AM PST by irv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: panaxanax
We have all the resources we need right here on Earth.

Spain had everything it needed right there in Spain before sending Columbus out on his pointless little trip, too. If only they had listened to you ...

93 posted on 03/26/2004 9:22:57 AM PST by irv
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: GeronL
There are tons the robots cannot do that humans can.

Robots could be used by the private sector to develop business in outer space. If you're strapped for cash, human presence is impossible.

94 posted on 03/26/2004 9:23:23 AM PST by RightWhale (Theorems link concepts; proofs establish links)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
"NASA officials and scientists yesterday repeatedly stressed that additional missions, each more ambitious than the previous, will be needed to continue telling the story of Mars' watery past and to find out if life ever existed there."

It appears that the extremely dubious claim of the existence of water on Mars is being used to generate more funding for the space agency and its many layers of hangers-on.

There are many unanswered technical problems with the supposition of the evidence of water there. That doesn't seem to deter the drummed-up ethusiasm for trying to find the evidence of life there. If they can just make that claim, they think they can expound evolution and refute the creation.

95 posted on 03/26/2004 10:10:54 AM PST by nightdriver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RightWhale
Robots could be used by the private sector to develop business in outer space

definitely

96 posted on 03/26/2004 6:38:57 PM PST by GeronL (I am here for the duration! /kidding)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 94 | View Replies]

To: RadioAstronomer
Hello everyone, my name is David Robinson and I see that you where commenting on my spaceship the USS Yorktown. If you think that this is just a take off of the Discovery 1 than you may want to take a look around my website, http://www.bambam131.com. You will find both those ships as well as many others that I have created using different 3D programs. If what you mean is that both ships have a sphere in front and a spine that separates the engines in back than you are correct but, you could say the same thing about cars too, all makes of cars are built on the same principles so I guess a Ford Pinto is the same thing as a Jaguar XJ? I hope that you will take a look around my site and enjoy the effort that I have put into creating my artwork.

Regards,

David Robinson aka: (Bambam131)
97 posted on 04/10/2004 11:23:07 AM PDT by Bambam131
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Bambam131; longshadow; Physicist; PatrickHenry; Piltdown_Woman; LibWhacker; GeronL
If you think that this is just a take off of the Discovery 1 than you may want to take a look around my website, <"snip"> If what you mean is that both ships have a sphere in front and a spine that separates the engines in back than you are correct but, you could say the same thing about cars too, all makes of cars are built on the same principles so I guess a Ford Pinto is the same thing as a Jaguar XJ?

First off I do like your site. I am impressed with the 3D work you have accomplished. However, all that aside, Your "Yorktown" is remarkably similar to the 2001 ship. You even named the antenna structure (which is remarkably like the one from 2001) AE-53 where the 2001 antenna control unit was named the AE-35.

After taking another look at your design, like it or not, I still stand by my original comment. This is very close to the spacecraft from 2001.

p.s. You even have it designed for a Jupiter mission.

For anyone who want to determine for themselves:

http://www.bambam131.com/ussyorktown.htm

98 posted on 04/10/2004 7:21:38 PM PDT by RadioAstronomer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: nightdriver; PatrickHenry; Ichneumon; CobaltBlue; VadeRetro; Physicist; RadioAstronomer
No need to go to mars to prove evolution. More than enough proof exists here on Earth.

However, it is interesting that creationists would use that as a counterargument to continued exploration of Mars. Perhaps they don't care to consider explaining whatever evidence could be found away?

99 posted on 04/10/2004 7:51:45 PM PDT by Long Cut
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
"The discovery that a salty sea once covered party of the surface of Mars......."

Sorry. I can't grant the premise.

The vision of a salty sea on Mars is rather difficult to rationalize when the AVERAGE temperature on the planet is -80 degrees F and with its atmospheric pressure between 4 and 8 MILLIBARS, the boiling and freezing points would be very close together.

Water wouldn't stay liquid long enough to even percolate into the ground under conditions like that. It would stay as a supercooled vapor in the surrounding atmosphere.

But atmospheric moisture has been measured as only some 250 PARTS PER MILLION, so the conclusion is inexorably that there just plain is no (and most likely never was) significant amounts of water on Mars at all.

100 posted on 04/10/2004 11:23:50 PM PDT by nightdriver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-100 last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson