List of evidence for water on Mars |
List of evidence for water on Mars |
Sep 27 2015, 08:16 AM
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#31
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 24-August 07 Member No.: 3405 |
If that has any validity it would probably be a reference to the slope streaks; not flowing open water, and very transient (whatever they actually turn out to be.). However, as you said, it's just a rumor. Could be a few other things instead. We'll know on Monday. I suppose if its briny water, you could see flows that are, as you say, transient. We'll find out soon enough. |
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Sep 28 2015, 03:15 PM
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#32
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 38 Joined: 14-August 12 Member No.: 6558 |
Just like the Atacama. Cool that it happens at that T+P.
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Sep 28 2015, 05:38 PM
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#33
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 68 Joined: 27-March 15 Member No.: 7426 |
Clear evidence of liquid water on Mars' surface has just been announced by NASA. It's believed that the water contains salts which lower its freeezing point, allowing it to remain liquid. Whether or not such brines could allow life to flourish is apparently a point of scientific contention. Link, below, to NASA release:
nasa confirms evidence that liquid water flows on today's mars |
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Sep 28 2015, 06:00 PM
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#34
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1669 Joined: 5-March 05 From: Boulder, CO Member No.: 184 |
The lowered melting point in the presence of perchlorates reminds me of the possible water drops seen from Phoenix.
-------------------- Steve [ my home page and planetary maps page ]
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Sep 28 2015, 06:12 PM
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#35
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Some rather acrobatic surface missions that we might want to pursue now are:
1) A lander/etc that could sit at the base (top?) of a promising slope and try to observe one of these events when it occurs. 2) A lander/rover/etc that could visit the surface precisely where one of these events had recently occurred. 2.1) A sample return of the above. These are all rather challenging goals, but the interest will certainly be high. |
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Sep 28 2015, 06:48 PM
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#36
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Member Group: Members Posts: 259 Joined: 23-January 05 From: Seattle, WA Member No.: 156 |
A loooong time ago I saw an item somewhere on the JPL site about a "mountaineer" mission. Basically two rovers, one of which would sit at the top of a slope and belay the other while it descended. I'd guess the proposal was first made in response to Mars Global Surveyor's initial reports of gullies.
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Sep 28 2015, 07:19 PM
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#37
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 68 Joined: 27-March 15 Member No.: 7426 |
There seems to be a good deal of concern that visiting sites with flowing water could contaminate them with organisms brought from Earth. Most Mars probes are apparently not fully sterilized. A 'clean' mission to an area with seasonally flowing water would be worth considering, of course.
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Sep 28 2015, 07:39 PM
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#38
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Member Group: Members Posts: 507 Joined: 10-September 08 Member No.: 4338 |
In this morning's press conference on Recurrent Slope Lineae (RSL), they mentioned there are some candidate RSLs on Mount Sharp. In answer to a question, it was said that even though contact work might be precluded due to Planetary Protection considerations, it could be useful to observe the process from a distance on the ground.
{EDIT] Sorry, I meant to post this in the main section, not the route section. Moderator: could you please transfer it? MOD- Done! |
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Sep 28 2015, 08:06 PM
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#39
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
QUOTE Ojha first noticed these puzzling features as a University of Arizona undergraduate student in 2010, using images from the MRO's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE). HiRISE observations now have documented RSL at dozens of sites on Mars. The new study pairs HiRISE observations with mineral mapping by MRO’s Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM). What is puzzling is that there is not even the slightest nod to MGS which identified these kinds of features a decade earlier. (admittedly I've only read the copy that has been released on this and didn't listen in to nay banter during the press conference.) -------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
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Sep 28 2015, 08:17 PM
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#40
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Member Group: Members Posts: 291 Joined: 29-December 05 From: Ottawa, ON Member No.: 624 |
Will someone please correct me if I am wrong. Either I am psychic or they've already shown pictures of these water trails a long time ago. When I saw this on the news I was scratching my head, thinking, this is old news.
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Sep 28 2015, 08:18 PM
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#41
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
MGS found slope streaks; recurring slope lineae aren't the same thing, they occur at a much smaller scale. People are pretty confident that slope streaks arise from an entirely dry process.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Sep 28 2015, 08:50 PM
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#42
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1592 Joined: 14-October 05 From: Vermont Member No.: 530 |
A loooong time ago I saw an item somewhere on the JPL site about a "mountaineer" mission. Basically two rovers, one of which would sit at the top of a slope and belay the other while it descended. I'd guess the proposal was first made in response to Mars Global Surveyor's initial reports of gullies. There was a proposal to belay into the Valles Marineris to examine the strata. I think the geological interest shifted elsewhere. |
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Sep 28 2015, 09:31 PM
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#43
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Member Group: Members Posts: 242 Joined: 21-December 04 Member No.: 127 |
Seems to me a reasonably priced approach could be a stationary mission on a flat area below one of these sites. Have a fixed super wide angle camera and the biggest telephoto lens possible on a fast rotation mount. Have the onboard computer continually monitor the fixed camera and slew the telephoto lens to any location that shows signs of movement. Also have some really precise environmental sensors to see what is correlated with the discharges.
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Sep 28 2015, 10:19 PM
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#44
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Member Group: Members Posts: 866 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Santa Cruz, CA Member No.: 196 |
I was also confused about the RSL vs 'slope streaks' (vs gullies for that matter) and it seems the slope streaks are the big dust avalanches, more info is in this space.com article.
The small RSL is postulated to be brine flowing just under the surface, actually 'wetting' the top layer of soil. I'm not sure how they rule out the possibility that RSL are also avalanches of a sort that are merely exposing the darker salty subsoil underneath a dusty top layer, as can be inferred from how perchlorates are suspected to be formed (Science Times article Arizona Dave shared in this post) |
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Sep 28 2015, 10:22 PM
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#45
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 24-August 07 Member No.: 3405 |
Am I missing something? Why would briny perchlorate heavy "liquid water" be seen as remotely habitable for life or even resource mining? As to the latter, we know there is water ice trapped in the caps.
Also, this discovery has been known/suspected for 2 years now: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/172937-...-contaminate-it |
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