Mars Has Water – Yes, Again
August 2nd, 2008
Pretty Printout
Pretty Printout
Yup. Phoenix found water. For sure. Yup.
A complete table of the multiplicitous discoveries of water on Mars: my post from 2006.
The cool thing about this discovery, as compared to all the rest? We’ve actually picked up and touched this water. We are absolutely certain that it’s water. Very awesome, but not new news.
It’s good that the question has finally been answered. However, it’s not all that simple. They’ve also found an oxidizing substance that they say is “detrimental” to us. We’ve got a long way to go before we can actually see a benefit in the red planet.
So, I found out some interesting stuff related to this. The oxidizer found is perchlorate – which would indicate (not prove conclusively) that the previous environment on Mars (not the current environment) wasn’t really very conducive to life (as we know it). That’s an awful lot of caveats and addendums there …
Smith, of the Phoenix team says “Initial MECA analyses suggested Earth-like soil. Further analysis has revealed un-Earthlike aspects of the soil chemistry.” Are you really that surprised that Mars’s soil has un-Earthlike aspects? Really?
For a good rundown, check out Emily’s Blog.
Or go straight to the source.
Also – don’t discount the technology we’ve invented just sending little robots to Mars … it might show up in your toaster someday!
(P.S. Extra Credit to the first person to identify the quote in the first paragraph).