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Mud on Mars: Look for Life in Russell Crater
An anonymous reader writes "Mars Global Surveyor satellite images show mud may have flowed on Mars as recently as the last 100 years. The place is called Russell Crater, in the southern hemisphere. Water would exist during summer noon, long enough to carve out the embankments and dams that make these patterns different from rocky avalanches. The BBC has an interview."
They interviewed a crater?
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Just the other day I read on Slashdot how Everquest was wiping out all the MUDs. It is heartening to find out about a new one, on Mars even!
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
The article mentions the mud/liquid water could be present THIS VERY DAY, if this would turn out to be true,... boy, staggering.... Liquid water on Mars! I hope they really decontaminated all previous probes properly, would be quite a shock to discover earth-bacteria living there, instead of martian bugs.
BBC: "So, Mars Global Surveyor, that name is a handful. May I call you Mars?, please, Mars, tell us what you have discovered."
MGS: "No, you may not call me Mars. That is a planet. My name is 'Mars Global Surveyor.' I have discovered mud. On Mars. The planet. A brain the size of a planet, and what do they have me doing? Out taking pictures of mud."
BBC: "Well, you certainly seem to know where your towel is!
That's it from the BBC, so long and thanks for all the fish!"
MGS: *groan*
I just wonder if all these water on Mars claims will be verified before we send Humans there.
By that I mean, if all of our probes can't confirm this and in 10, 20, or 30 years we finally get Humans out there and they do confirm water on Mars, will that justify the expense and danger of manned space exploration?
It just seems to me that if there is any water on Mars, a probe will have a lot harder time finding definative proof of it than an intelligent human being.
coincidence (the name) apollo 12,14;15 (don't remember) did a quick stroll to a probe on the moon, that had landed there a while before them, they took some pieces off it to study back on earth (to know how badly it had deteriorariar eeehhh ated, i guess.) Back on earth, it turned out there were still some live bacteria inside some of the pieces...
Why do you need color? Seriously...I'm not trying to troll you or anything. When all you want is to see surface features, black and white is perfectly adequate. If the images were in color, you'd just see what color the sediments are (some varying shades of red and yellow probably). Personally, I think black and white pictures of landscapes look pretty neat.
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