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NASA Probes Reveal Vast Stores of Martian Ice

Posted by timothy on from the can-be-shaved-and-flavored dept.

John Faughnan writes: "The BBC reports that a British newspaper has leaked stunning news from the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Vast amounts of water ice are present on mars, "[if it] were to melt it could cover the planet in an ocean at least 500 metres deep." Researchers thought it would take a year to detect any water ice below the martian surface, but the huge quantity meant that weeks of observation were sufficient. The BBC notes that "The Mars Polar Lander was to touch down in exactly the right spot in 1999 and would have undoubtedly detected the ice had it not malfunctioned on the way down." This discovery will change plans for upcoming probes and may lead to a manned mission within the next two decades. The official announcement was scheduled for this Thursday prior to several publications."

3 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Frozen ice == manned missions? by jimmcq · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't quite understand how the discovery of ice on mars would make manned missions any more possible. Don't they take water with them on missions anyway?

    If its already there, it means that you don't have to bring it with you (or at least not as much).

    Water can be used in the production of oxygen, and also fuel (after you break down into Hydrogen and Oxygen). These things require a LOT of water... much more than we could possibly hope to bring with us.

    Discovery of water also means that the chances of finding life (or at least sign of primative life that once existed there) are much, much greater.

  2. Re:Space == Pretty Damn Good Sterilization by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Informative
    Pure Vacumn + Unfiltered UV Light + No Water + Heat/Cold Extremes = No Surviving Bacteria. What else are you going to do, swab the thing with alcohol?

    As explained here, earth bacteria survived on the moon for 2 years.

    IIRC, they sterilize some space probes by blasting them with radiation before launch.

  3. Ah! The old "Radiation will kill them" Bugbear.. by Howzer · · Score: 5, Informative
    Although it does pose a problem, radiation on a Mars Mission is not a mission stopper or even a mission slower. Any potential mission would be taking along a large quantity of water, food, and along the way building up stocks of the stuff that water and food becomes.....

    Arranging the tanks and compartments that carry such stuff to provide a solar storm safety shelter in the center of your "tin can" is a trivial design exercise. A meter or two of water between you and the radiation is pretty much all you need. The ambient radiation is a problem, although only in percentage terms (it slightly increases your chance of getting cancer sometime later in your life). The point has been made that you could recruit the crew from smokers; they couldn't smoke on the mission; and you would actually decrease their chance of getting cancer during their lives by sending them to Mars!

    Many, many design studies have been done utilising exactly the design I mentioned above, and it works. Read about it in this book or at this website.