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Ice Detected Underneath Mars' North Pole
TheSync writes "A Reuters/Yahoo story says University of Arizona and Russian scientists have detected water ice uniformly distributed in the soil of Mars' north polar regions. The amount of hydrogen detected indicates ice of 80% to 90% of soil volume. Data was used from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey." It's worth noting that their study only detected large amounts of hydrogen; so much hydrogen that ice is figured to be the only form it could be in, although I kind of like the idea of Mars' pole covering a huge pocket of hydrogen gas.
All we need to do now is send Schwarzenegger up there to turn on that ice melting machine.
Oh...kay. Call me strange, I've never really considered a "big pocket of trapped hydrogen gas on Mars" much of a turn-on, but to each his own.
...
so when does the mad rush to build your own hydrogen farm on mars start? selling tickets on my spaceship! but seriously, now we have the possibility of being able to send a manned mission there, and then they can gather their own fuel for the way back! well, once we figure out that whole hydrogen fuel cell engine. . . or something. . .
This confirms my belief that Santa Claus could indeed be living on Mars.
If its anything like the movies then NASA will send Pauly Shore and Sean Astin to go dig a hole on mars. After digging for several months they will find a little green man (played by Brendan Fraser.)
Astin and Shore will dress it up in a space suit, in order to trick NASA officials into beliving that its the forign exchange cosmonaught.
We have plenty of water here, I read somewhere that like 60% of the earth's surface is water. Why do we need to get water from other planets? Looks like a waste of time to me.
We can also hypothesize that they discovered slushies millions of years before us, and that they would've given us a run for our money at the Winter Olympics.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
But honestly, who cares? To have life, you
need earth, fire, and sky, too. They
obviously don't have earth, as we are on Earth,
and that is Mars. They can't have fire, as their
minimal sky doesn't have enough oxygen.
So they don't have the four elements necessary
for life. I'm just going to stay here and figure
out the first two digits of pi on my abacus.
Astronauts have again found ice on mars which scientists speculate could be evidence of life, just as they have on previous missions.
Dj
I think I has to be pure hydrogen.
We all know that it is a very light gas and would rise to the north pole... duh!
So now we have purified water, mineral water, distilled water, rain water, tap water, spring water, and now martian water. It's a Bobby Boucher dream come true.
I find it somewhat unlikely that a huge pocket of hydrogen might be underneath the surface, but there's a simple way to check. Just crash a probe into the planet. If Mars ruptures and starts lurching around the solar system like an untied balloon, the theory might have some merit.
This avenue of research should be explored as soon as possible. This is in keeping with my conviction that our scientific dollars should be spent in the most entertaining ways possible.
You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!
They could pack Strom Thurmond in it until they're ready to bring him back from the dead!! /me watches karma wither away.
An adaptation of the best scene in Douglas Adams's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe to explain exactly what's going on here. Enjoy.
The telescope aperture opened.
"Hello?" said the man.
"Do you run the observatory?" said the planet Mars.
The man smiled at it.
"I try not to," he said. "Are you wet?"
The planet Mars looked at him in astonishment.
"Wet?" it cried. "Does it look as if I'm wet?"
"That's how it looks to me," said the man, "but how you feel about it might be an altogether different matter. If you feel a giant hydrogen pocket under each pole makes you dry, you'd better get some."
Hang on a sec while I go get my dart gun, with which I plan to resolve the issue that Mars is just another Hindenburg waiting to happen.
"Screw slashdot." -- Linus Torvalds
Could it be the original Russian water substitute that they are detecting, Vodka?
OH THE SHAME I fell off the wagon and use sigs again!
HOCKEY!
And Canada will be happy to represent Earth in the Solar Cup Hockey championships.
I wonder if Don Cherry will whine as much about the Martian way to play as he tends to do about Europe?
Still hoping for Gentle Treatment...
Isn't it funny that you are saying that you need evidence to back up a principle? I could make up a whole bunch of "principles", and then call everyone else "doubters" and, heck, I could publish a public education textbook.
They found the ice I planted...soon they'll find the lost civilization, then the obilesk on europa, and then unlock the mysteries of artificial intelligence. Creating a new super race of robots that will wage war on them and enclose them in a reality emulating matrix to power their metal bodies. Yes...it's all coming together nicely...muhah hah hah
This proves evolution, unless god created life on mars too... ... ... ...
It is through electrodynamism and these pockets of gas that the Martians would hurl their cylinders toward our Earth! We should be steadfast in our study of Mars, for surely they are studying us just as intently; Perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
- I am made of meat.
Think about if water on earth would be capable of exothermic reactions. I'd say we'd then have one huge problem. All those "no smoking" signs at the seashores...
Dude, japanese speaking kangaroos with badass superpowers totally live in black holes.
the real question is: is it strawberry or plain vanilla?
..Firing off a giant pocket of hydrogen gas on another planet this Fourth of July!
I finished reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars day before yesterday, and the first thing that came to mind when I read this news is that it's just SO obvious -- EVERYONE knows there's tons of water on Mars!
Talk about getting caught up in the story...
/Nanoox
How about we send all three to Mars to dig a hole, and leave Pauly Shore in it when they leave?
Ita erat quando hic adveni.