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NASA To Head For Mars After Water Is Found Everywhere
Independent (UK) ^ | 5-27-2002 | Rupert Cornwell

Posted on 05/27/2002 4:23:27 PM PDT by blam

Nasa to head for Mars after water is found everywhere

By Rupert Cornwell, in Washington
27 May 2002

NASA IS poised to announce its firmest plans yet to send men to Mars within 20 years, following the stunning discovery of huge quantities of water-ice close to the planet's surface.

The presence of frozen water is the main finding sent to Earth by the joint US-Russian Odyssey spacecraft, which entered Martian orbit in October 2001. In a paper for the journal Science, two scientists in Los Alamos involved with the mission will present evidence that ice lies about a metre beneath the surface over a large area.

There were "features that suggest water, or something like water, everywhere," Bob Reedy, one of the authors, told the Albuquerque Journal last week. "Yet today there's no water on the surface. Where did all that water go?"

This week Jim Garvin, the head of the US space agency's Mars exploration programme is expected to announce that, on the basis of the existence of accessible water on the planet, his agency is aiming to make a manned landing there within the next 20 years.

The lack of water has long been a huge obstacle to men carrying out the nine-month, 40-million-mile journey to Mars. But confirmation of the buried icepacks could solve the problem – as well as rekindle the debate about whether life existed there.

The discovery of water was made by gamma-ray and neutron spectrometers which measure gamma-ray emanations and other evidence of the presence of hydrogen. Scientists believe the hydrogen is locked inside crystals of ice. The paper submitted by Mr Reedy and his colleague Bill Feldman will provide the most detailed map yet of the chemical composition of Mars' surface.

Water would provide not only drinking supplies. The hydrogen inside could be extracted to provide fuel for a spacecraft's return journey.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: found; mars; nasa; water
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To: hedgetrimmer
Monday, 27 May, 2002, 13:58 GMT 14:58 UK

Mars lander team encouraged

By Helen Briggs
BBC News Online science reporter

UK scientists say they could win the race to find proof of life on Mars, following reports that new signs of water have been detected. A British-led effort will get the first chance next year to dig for evidence.

We're the next probe to land on Mars and we have the only instrument which is capable of looking for evidence of life

The Beagle 2 lander is designed to burrow beneath the rocky surface, to a depth where ice crystals may be present.

Experts will begin testing some of its software next week amid reports that a Nasa spacecraft has spotted vast tracts of ice just below the surface of the Red Planet.

A distinctive chemical signature picked up by a scientific instrument on board Mars Odyssey points to the presence of water, according to reports.

The discovery would be important not just because it could yield traces of past or present extra-terrestrial life; it could also help humans one day explore the planet or even set up home there.

Any astronauts sent to Mars would not be able to take enough water with them to survive the long stay so would have to find a way to mine it.

'Good shout'

British scientists are helping to pioneer the field of robotics that will be critical for charting the terrain of Mars or extracting water.

The first stage is the Beagle 2 project, a British led effort to land on the Red Planet.

The landing craft will hitch a ride on the European Space Agency's Mars Express Mission, to be launched midway through 2003.

He told the BBC: "We're the next probe to land on Mars and we have the only instrument which is capable of looking for evidence of life.

"We'll be able to analyse water, we'll be able to look for minerals that have been deposited from water, we can look for the organic matter which might be the relic of creatures that lived in the water - so we're in with a very good shout of being the people who discover life on Mars."

'Virtual' Mars

Reports that the American Mars Odyssey probe has discovered vast regions of water-ice come as robotics experts at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth begin testing a virtual reality model of Beagle 2.

It will be used from Earth to tell the lander how to move and where to dig once it is on the Martian surface.

"It gives us a virtual Beagle 2 that we can use during the mission for commanding the Beagle 2 arm," Dr Dave Barnes, of the department of Computer Science, told BBC News Online.

"When we get data back from the camera, the terrain information will be put into the virtual software environment which scientists and engineers can subsequently use to actually plan further parts of the mission."

To send humans out into space is very, very expensive

Dr Alex Ellery, Kingston University Beagle 2 will parachute down on to the surface of Mars near the equator.

The water reserves reportedly detected by Nasa's spacecraft are much further south. But according to Dr Barnes, even if Beagle 2 finds no water on its first visit, there will be another chance, perhaps in 2009, to look.

"Beagle 2 will give the first demonstration of using a "mole" on the surface of Mars," he said.

"If successful, the technology could be used on future missions aiming specifically at those regions found by Odyssey."

'Critical technology'

British space robotics experts are already thinking of proposals for future Mars visits.

The UK Space and Planetary Robotics Network met this month at the Open University in Milton Keynes to discuss the issue.

Dr Alex Ellery, of Kingston University, told BBC News Online: "To send humans out into space is very, very expensive. So, the only way we can actually make discoveries on the planets is to send robots out there."

"I think in 50 years' time, humans will start to make steps towards the exploration of Mars," said Dr Ellery.

"But robots will still be needed because robots can ease the work load that astronauts will experience in actually exploring the surface of Mars. So, they will be a critical technology in making it happen."

41 posted on 05/27/2002 7:35:23 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
"...water, or something like water

Careful, it could be Ice Nine.

42 posted on 05/27/2002 7:38:08 PM PDT by Harrison Bergeron
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To: blam
Dang! I may not make it 20 more years...and I really did want to see a Mars landing.

All that pristine water up there on Mars, and no brewery or distillery within millions of miles?

Let's get private enterprise involved! Forget NASA! Let's get Busch, Coors, Napa Valley wineries, and Jack Daniels involved in sponsoring missions to Mars! Who wouldn't want an ice cold Coors brewed from the fresh mountain waters of Olympus Mons?

43 posted on 05/27/2002 7:42:52 PM PDT by Jay W
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To: Arkie2
"We are receiving a signal from Mars and it keeps repeating over and over. It's just three words:"


44 posted on 05/27/2002 7:46:42 PM PDT by weegee
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To: Harrison Bergeron
"Careful, it could be Ice Nine.

Cat's Cradle.

45 posted on 05/27/2002 7:54:53 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
it was one of those "if you donate X, your name will be placed on a placque at the site."

LOL! MY name is supposed to be on a plaque to be placed at the first base on Mars!

46 posted on 05/27/2002 8:05:18 PM PDT by sneakypete
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To: sneakypete
" MY name is supposed to be on a plaque to be placed at the first base on Mars!"

That's great! (Got you too, hee,hee.)

47 posted on 05/27/2002 8:16:35 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam
"NASA IS poised to announce its firmest plans yet to send men to Mars within 20 years, following the stunning discovery of huge quantities of water-ice close to the planet's surface."

Not a chance.

I work in the aerospace industry. And I have finally resigned myself to the fact that no human interplanetary missions will occur in my lifetime--probably in the next 50 years, unless the Japanese or some other nation picks up the torch we dropped.

Never doubt it: we have lost the "right stuff" and all our efforts will shortly be diverted to a life-or-death struggle with the Islamic world.

One more major terrorist strike (such as, e.g., bringing down the Sears tower in Chicago or the Golden Gate Bridge or...) will do it.

NASA is finished. In 5 years I expect its budget to be ~$5 billion. Eventually they will lose another shuttle (pure statistics) and that will be the end of manned spaceflight.

--Boris

48 posted on 05/27/2002 9:00:22 PM PDT by boris
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To: southernnorthcarolina
I think you're right. A small fry like Jim Garvin isn't going to announce a manned Mars mission. This would be too big even for O'Keefe, this would be a presidential directive complete with an address to the nation solely for the purpose of announcing this.
49 posted on 05/28/2002 9:51:41 AM PDT by Brett66
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To: ASA Vet
All your water are belong to Mars.
50 posted on 05/28/2002 10:57:27 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
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To: LurkedLongEnough
LOL!
51 posted on 05/28/2002 10:59:17 AM PDT by Lazamataz
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To: sneakypete
MY name is supposed to be on a plaque to be placed at the first base on Mars!

Cool ... I didn't even know they had a baseball team.

52 posted on 05/28/2002 2:57:48 PM PDT by Gumption
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To: blam
How are they sure it's not yellow ice, dumped on Mars by space ships emptying their toilets tanks there over the centuries?
53 posted on 05/28/2002 3:10:16 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: Harrison Bergeron
But the Marines will not be just stuck in the mud!! On a different thought how will we melt the ice, remove stuff from the water, and kill anything in the water so it can be drunk?
54 posted on 05/28/2002 3:13:19 PM PDT by Springman
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To: Gumption
Cool ... I didn't even know they had a baseball team.

Talk about a farm team!

55 posted on 06/01/2002 7:41:23 PM PDT by sneakypete
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