List of evidence for water on Mars |
List of evidence for water on Mars |
Feb 5 2013, 04:59 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Newbie Group: Members Posts: 7 Joined: 24-July 07 Member No.: 2948 |
Does there exist a list of all the evidence of water on Mars, listed by spacecraft?
Ideally, it would be a list with a short description and a link to a story or news release. For example: Mars Global Surveyor: NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows in Brief Spurts on Mars http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/new...s-20061206.html Phoenix: NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/...x-20080731.html Opportunity: NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited by Water http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20111207.html I know I could spend some time and extend the list that I've started above, but if someone or some organization has already done it I'd hate to reinvent the wheel! Thank you. |
|
|
Sep 28 2015, 10:36 PM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
One of the blurbs alluded to the possibility of an airborne source/process. The vineyards of Lanzarote (Canary Islands) are collections of pits that trap condensation from passing clouds and funnel it down to the vines at the bottoms. Could a similar process of condensation be in play here with prevailing winds?
|
|
|
Sep 28 2015, 11:43 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
My sense is:
The subsurface ice layer (as seen under the Phoenix lander) has a ragged boundary where it ends around 40° North/South. Where it abuts steep slopes (often craters), it verges into soil that undergoes significant seasonal heating/cooling cycles. Where it does not do that, it remains at fairly constant temperatures year-round. When local conditions achieve maximum heating and cross a threshold that has not been reached before (either slightly warmer than previous summers), a bit of the edge melts and runs downslope. This partially exhausts the local supply of ice ("local" may mean meters, or even centimeters), so that the same precise spot may not undergo this activity again for a very, very long time, if ever. If this is an accurate model of the phenomenon, then exploring it will be hard because: 1) It will be easy to list candidate locations to watch but very hard to list candidates that will actually have flows in any given year. 2) Once a location shows the phenomenon while we are watching, that may make the location very unlikely to exhibit the phenomenon again anytime soon. By rough analogy, imagine trying to send a lander to Earth and place it where a tornado will later happen. The odds are very slim. (In fact, even with people on the ground, few successes of this kind have been achieved.) We would have better luck if we tried to observe a place where it happened and then explore it relatively soon thereafter. |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 21st May 2024 - 10:40 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |