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Probes May Drill For Liquid Water On Mars

Posted by timothy on from the tough-drillin' dept.

spike hay writes: "According to this article at Space.com, we may send a sample-return probe to Mars in 2005 that will drill a few hundred feet into the Martian surface to look for liquid water. Scientists believe that great quantities of briny water could exist under the surface permafrost, warmed by volcanism. Finding liquid water on Mars would help sustain future colonists, and it even may open up the possibility that life might still exist on Mars."

1 of 17 comments (clear)

  1. I realize it's an extremely amazing discovery... by Ieshan · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I realize it's an extremely amazing discovery, but I fail to realize the immense value of spending billions of dollars which could go to research on AIDS, Cancer, or serious human need to fuel the possibilities that extremely small bacteria still exist in the martian environment.

    Maybe I'm being pessimistic about the whole thing, but I'm concerned that NASA and other science agencies aren't focused on the real question - intelligent life.

    Of course, that's a problem, I know. I can't expect for NASA to find intelligent life before they find life at all. It just seems like a cash drain. Does anyone else feel the same way, or is everyone pro-digging-into-Mars-for-stuff?