NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars |
NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars |
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Dec. 4, 2006
Dwayne Brown/Erica Hupp Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726/1237 Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. 818-354-6278 MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-186 NASA SCHEDULES BRIEFING TO ANNOUNCE SIGNIFICANT FIND ON MARS WASHINGTON - NASA hosts a news briefing at 1 p.m. EST, Wednesday, Dec. 6, to present new science results from the Mars Global Surveyor. The briefing will take place in the NASA Headquarters auditorium located at 300 E Street, S.W. in Washington and carried live on NASA Television and www.nasa.gov. The agency last week announced the spacecraft's mission may be at its end. Mars Global Surveyor has served the longest and been the most productive of any spacecraft ever sent to the red planet. Data gathered from the mission will continue to be analyzed by scientists. Panelists include: - Michael Meyer -- Lead Scientist, Mars Exploration Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington - Michael Malin -- President and Chief Scientist, Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, Calif. - Kenneth Edgett -- Scientist, Malin Space Science Systems - Philip Christensen -- Professor, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz. |
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Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 401 Joined: 5-January 07 From: Manchester England Member No.: 1563 ![]() |
Sorry to resurrect a long dormant thread but it seems like the best place to ask this question: In the planetary society blog Doug reported on a hypothesis that bacteria on mars could survive by using an intracellular fluid of water mixed with hydrogen peroxide. As an idea this makes some sense as at atmospheric pressure at least (I've not been able to locate a temperature-pressure curve for H2O2) a 60%-40% H2O2-H2O mix has a boiling point of 120 deg C and a freezing point of -50 degC. In other words its stable over nearly twice the temperature range of water. So (finally gets to the point) has it been considered anywhere that the liquid flowing down the gullies could be bleach? Google hasn't thrown up anything on the idea, although it has been convincingly argued that H2O2 could be produced in the martian atmosphere during storms and be coating the surface.
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Founder ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Chairman Posts: 14433 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 ![]() |
a 60%-40% H2O2-H2O mix has a boiling point of 120 deg C and a freezing point of -50 degC. And at 6 mbar? That's the crucial point. You can mix all sorts of things with water to change the boiling point and freezing point - H2O2 is one of the more unpleasent ways of doing it - particularly on the UV soaked surface of Mars. Doug |
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![]() Member ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 ![]() |
And at 6 mbar? That's the crucial point. Doug Doug i appreciate that the 6 mbar point has been made, and made well with regard to liquid on the surface. However, i wonder how much depth of regolith/permafrost you need before the pressure of overlaying material allows H20, H202 etc to exist as a liquid? Is it 10s of meters or kilometers. Do we have accurate modelling of the heat flow of hte martian crust to asses this? |
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![]() Senior Member ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 ![]() |
Do we have accurate modelling of the heat flow of hte martian crust to asses this? No. One of the datasets that is most wanting about Mars is its crustal heat flow, both average and regional. Thermal emissions instruments (TES, infrared imagers, etc.) give a rough idea, but what I wouldn't give for a set of 20 or 30 heat flow probes scattered across Mars. I'd *almost* like that more than I'd like a seismic network. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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