Eggheads find water on Red Planet
 

NASA says Mars craft "touched and tasted" water

By Jill Serjeant Thu Jul 31, 4:52 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA scientists said on Thursday they had definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander.

"We have water," said William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix.

"We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," he said, referring to the craft's instruments.

NASA on Thursday also extended the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander by five weeks, saying its work was moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.

"We are extending the mission through September 30," Michael Meyer, chief scientist for NASA's Mars exploration program, told a televised news conference.

The extension will add about $2 million to the $420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25 for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Meyer said.

Phoenix is the latest NASA bid to discover whether water -- a crucial ingredient for life -- ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.

Phoenix touched down in May on an ice sheet and samples of the ice were seen melting away in photographs taken by the lander's instruments in June.

Boynton said that water was positively identified after the lander's robotic arm delivered a soil sample on Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by heating.

Mission scientists said the extension would give time for more analysis of Martian samples. They plan to dig two additional trenches -- dubbed "cupboard" and "neverland" -- using the robotic arm on the Phoenix craft.

"We hope to be able to answer the question of whether this was a habitable zone on Mars. It will be for future missions to find if anyone is home on this environment," Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith told the news conference.

Mission scientists said in June that Martian soil was more alkaline than expected and had traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements. They described the findings as a "huge step forward."

Meyer said the scientific proof of the existence of water meant that Phoenix could "move from looking for water to seeing whether there were habitats for life.

"We are moving towards understanding whether there were or could be places on Mars that are habitable," Meyer said.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Now if only i was born 100 years from now this would actually mean something to me. :-/

You can't sit there and honestly tell me that you arn't overjoyed about spending all of our tax dollars to find water on Mars. I mean it's not like that money could have gone to anything else worth a crap. Like feeding the homeless, Ya know, the people who could actually use a drink of water.

I thought homeless people drank at public water fountains.

there are no homeless. Part of the liberal media conspiracy. They are actually fembots who will kill us all by snusnu when the time is right.

Oh, and the mars landing is a fake. They just repainted the Apollo set...

I had an interesting if brief chat with a homeless fellow the other day. I was at a red light in my convertible and he was sitting on the center island on an upturned 5 gallon bucket, along with his fellow vagrant buddy. He shared with me some of his profound outlook on life. "He was a lovely and charming man."

If i see him again i will be sure to get his opinion on this, mankind's newest scientific find.

That some people lack water or food is not a function of money, IMNSHO.

The money spent on the accumulation of knowledge of space travel and the practical application of that knowledge are of immeasurable value; this topic is worthy of its own thread.

Best,

I will donate this one. List all the things space travel has brought us. I'll start.

1) Tang.

Space sex? :)

See my new thread.

Good deal! I want subsurface rights! Once we've destroyed/polluted all the water on earth, I'll be a gajillionaire! Muhahahaha!!!

Big freaking deal. How much did it cost us to find out there are some ice crystals on the Martian poles, and what does that information change?

hundreds of millions, and absolutely nothing.

Just think of all the billions of dollars people spent going to the movies last year. Imagine all the homeless people we could have fed if those people would have just stayed home and turned on the TV instead. Even worse are the billions spent on porn. If those pervs would have donated all that money to the food pantry then nobody would have gone hungry. And don't even get me started on those guys that spend money on sports cars. If they would have just bought a used Ford Focus we could have cured cancer by now.

Earth has water...


KT

I think my Porsche cost less than a Ford Focus (of course, the maintenance is a whole nother issue).

Would it be meaningful, IYO, if Mars supports or once supported life of some form? That's sort of one angle on the confirmation of water on or near the surface.

It's also nice to know if it is decided to send some humans there.

Would it make a difference to you if life was discovered on Mars, or some other planet?

I can think of very few things more profound than learning about the existence of life beyond this planet, although I believe that the Universe is teeming with life.

Best,

And also life. Wouldn't it be cool to find life on Mars? Or at least proof that it once existed?

IMHO, one of the noblest of man's pursuits is the quest for knowledge. I personally think we should spend more money on this kind of stuff. Just think if we had taken the money spent in the war in Iraq and put it into fusion energy research. We wouldn't care about the price of oil right now.

Sammy, if everyone had your attitude, we'd be living in caves discussing our choice in club. The quest for knowledge and discovery is noble because it benefits all mankind. Compared to many government programs, including many SOCIAL programs, NASA's budget is quite small.

As for your thirsty homeless man, he can attend one of the many soup kitchens in his town. Or, he might consider getting a job. Then he could drink BOTTLED water!

Well said!

ahhh, another welfare supporter. Someone gets drug addicted/drunk and its our responsibility to pay for their housing/food/liquor in lieu of expanding global horizons in technology. Don't forget, NASA invented those velcro shoes you are wearing.;)

I happily contribute money (and sometimes my labor) to homeless shelters. I happily contribute tax money to NASA. I unhappily contribute tax money for other things, but thats for another thread. :)