Digging Deep for the Real Mars

technodude writes: "Wired has an article on a Canadian company working on an automated drilling system that they hope someday will be able to drill core samples on Mars. Ok, let's say they do this, get it all the way to Mars only to find out after drilling 30 feet beneath the surface there was a large cavernous area that had an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and a large population of underground dwellers!!" Um... apologize and hope they don't have any interplanetary weaponry?

Comments

Boring Canadians

[cheezehead]

From the article:

The Canadian Space Agency has unveiled new technology that could one day see boring Canadians on Mars.

That's uncalled for! I've been to Canada, and Canadians aren't boring at all (quite the opposite)!

Huh?

[cheezehead]

From the article:

Drilling is necessary not only because of the high winds that can reach 100 mph -- which move things around and disturb the planet's geology -- but also because of the intense radiation from the sun and deep space on the planet's surface, according to Alain Berinstain, the agency's Mars Project lead.

Ok, I'm willing to accept that I'm going nuts, but there's a few things I don't get here:

"100 mph high winds"? The atmospheric pressure on Mars is 1% of that on earth. So how come that is a problem?

"moving things around" Really? Like it will blow over a Mars lander craft?

"disturb the planet's geology" ? The winds are blowing rocks all over the place? Mountains are collapsing? Or is there just a little dust being blown around?

"intense radiation from the sun" Seems a little less ridiculous, given that there's no ozone layer to block UV, hardly an atmosphere to stop cosmic particles and all that, but Mars is a bit farther from the Sun than Earth is, and radiation intensity decreases with the square of the distance. It's friggin' cold out there (-85 F on average), so "intense radiation" seems a bit of an overstatement. Besides, we've put things on the surface of Mars taking pictures and sending them back. Seems at least as sophisticated as a robotic drill.

Finally, what does "deep space on the planet's surface" mean?

I really have a problem taking these comments seriously. So maybe I am going nuts after all.

Re:Huh?

[redcliffe]

The mob who made the stupid comments is not the CSA, but the group who made the drill. They don't really know much about space, they just know drilling into rock. So in this case the gaff is acceptable.

David

Re:Huh?

[Arlet]

The winds, even though the atmospheric pressure is low, are still capable of moving sand. Over a couple of million years, this may well change a planet's geology. Go take a look a the grand canyon to witness the effect of time.

When they're talking about the intense radiation from the sun, they're not worried about the survival of the drill or lander. They're talking about the the radiation destroying evidence of life on the surface, and that's why they need to drill. Since the atmosphere is so thin, you can expect a heavy dose of radiation at the surface. There are worse things than UV, such as high energy cosmic rays, which are mostly blocked by earth's atmosphere, but can penetrate a lot further on Mars.

Re:apologize?!

[cheezehead]

Sure, but in which language?

Well, either English or French. Guess we'll have to wait for the Canadians to figure that out first.

Finally

[trollbot]

Seems like I've been reading about this for years. Glad to see it finally becoming reality.

In my worst nightmares

[Tablizer]

a Canadian company working on an automated drilling system that they hope someday will be able to drill core samples on Mars....

Please God, don't let dentists get ahold of this technology.