Posted on 05/24/2003 1:46:37 PM PDT by green team 1999
Life clues on Red Planet
By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor
Scientists may have identified what could be the best place to look for life on the Red Planet. It is the Russell Crater in Mars' southern hemisphere. 
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The Russell Crater dunefield,.............Mudflows might occur today
Observations of the region made during the local autumn and spring, when frost covers the dunes and then recedes, indicate liquid water could be present on the surface at certain times of the year.
Detailed analysis suggests this water could be mixing with soil to create frequent mudflows.
"The water we believe is there means that it could be the best place we know of so far where you could dig into the surface to look for life," researcher Dr Dennis Reiss told BBC News Online.
Freeze thaw
"There are extraordinary features in Russell Crater, features resembling terrestrial mudflows," said Dr Reiss, of the German Aerospace Centre.
He has studied high-resolution images from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in orbit around the planet. He has concluded the mudflows could be the youngest features on Mars, perhaps even being formed from time to time during the present day.
In particular, Dr Reiss measured the temperature of the surface along with its reflectivity, technically called its albedo.
These two quantities told him a lot about what is going on in the dunes.
The albedo indicates if the surface is frozen or thawed and the temperature provides clues about what types of ice and liquid are present.
When spring comes
When winter arrives at Russell Crater, water vapour and carbon dioxide condense out of Mars' thin atmosphere and frost the dunes. The albedo and temperature readings indicate that during the spring thaw, the frozen carbon dioxide sublimates - turns into a gas - leaving a thawed surface containing liquid water.
"It could be that in the first couple of centimetres of the surface there is liquid water, possibly even on the surface as well," Dr Reiss said.
"In this place, for a few hours each day, just after noon in the summer, there could be liquid water on the surface of Mars."
Faraway missions
Such a possibility is exciting for those wishing to look for life on the planet.
It is generally believed that to find life on Mars, one should try to find water.
However, none of the spacecraft set for a Mars landing this year are due to go anywhere near the Russell Crater.
The European Beagle 2 will land on the arid plain of Issidis, about 10 degrees north of the equator.
It is a site chosen to be warm enough for Beagle to work and low enough for Beagle's parachutes to allow a safe landing.
The two US rovers, also due for launch next month, will touch down near the equator, halfway around the planet from each other.
Dennis Reiss and Ralf Jaumann publish their work on Russell Crater in Geophysical Research Letters.
for information and discusion only,not for profit etc,etc.
I thought so, but I wasn't quite sure why you replied to me. Nonetheless there is a balance as well as rhyme and reason to all of God's creation. As it turns out life on this planet as we know would not be possible without the other planets and celestial bodies.
The greatest puzzlement to me about evolutionists is how they believe in the power of random events. Now we all know that Murphy's laws are nothing but a humorous poke at the plans of men, but all humor contains elements of truth in it to make it funny. We all know the truth of Murphy's Law and have all suffered its consequences but that is merely anecdotal evidence of the greater truth behind it and that being, we are fallen creatures in a fallen world. Evolutionists can not except this very simply fact and will use intellectualism, humanism, and scientific half truths to get around the crux of the matter and that is nothing on it's own gets better.
See you soon.
Boiler Plate
Reality as opposed to ideal: you do. Get the necessary permits, stay out of trouble.
Maybe he's not done yet....
Probably most of us don't like 80% of the things gov't spends our money on. But, we're dying here, our society is dying here, gov't and business is more intrusive every day. We can see the changes year by year, they control our language, control our thoughts, control our education, give us drugs in school to control our disposition. Who likes that?
What I don't like is that we're not getting our money's worth from NASA. In fact, we're getting next to nothing. It could be different: for the same amount of spending NASA could be building the equivalent of the interstate highway system and then we could all roll on down the road, to the moon, to Mars, to asteroids, wherever. They are going to take a slice of all our wallets anyway, why not insist on getting something useful?
No one controls my thoughts ... Man you are a wonder, though. No wonder you want to fly out of here .... you are as loony as any madman ever. Glad you are getting out of here ... we don't need your help. Instead, I prefer to stand my ground and help us Earth creatures with honor and dignity. But, it is my preference.
"we're dying here, our society is dying here, gov't and business is more intrusive every day. We can see the changes year by year, they control our language, control our thoughts, control our education, give us drugs in school to control our disposition. Who likes that?" -- article
Badge of Honor. Thanku, thanku very much.
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