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Geothermal Activity on Mars?
An anonymous reader writes "This article on the New Scientist site reports that Mars Odyssey has detected warm spots (20-40 degrees
warmer irrespective of sunlight, day or night) in the Hellas basin."
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Where do they get the names for the 'geography' of Mars? Sounds like something out of a "gangsta's dictionary".
I'd be willing to bet that's where the martians have mass hot tubs and huge wild parties. If you listen closely, you can hear the cheap 70's porn music wafting up through the thin mars atmosphere...
;)
This post was brought to you by an extreme lack of sleep
"Christ what a design! I could eat a handful of iron filings and PUKE a better emergency pump than that!"
For those who 1) don't read the article and 2) don't know much about science, this is why this article is "important":
Unusual warm spots on Mars might represent "ice towers" similar to those seen in Antarctica, say researchers. They could even harbour life, Nick Hoffman of Melbourne University told a conference on Thursday.
Then the article talks about how some guy discovered this and what the further implications can be.
Or.... ;^)
It could be methane emmissions from all those cows/rednecks that them pesky martians keep abducting
Even on Earth, there are a number of places with cold and volcanic vents, but ice towers form in only one place (the most extreme, granted). Obviously the conditions have to be just right. Other than being cold, Antarctica really isn't that much like Mars.
The ice tower story sounds like either Hoffman was either playing to the media, or they were playing him.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Mars Odyssey has detected warm spots in the Hellas basin.
*ahem*
Wow, it's Hellas hot around here.
Thank you for your patience in this matter
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
I think there is life there and the U.S. government thinks we can't handle the truth, so hence we don't go.
I suspect there is life, too. Of course I'm just an armchair scientist and this is just my humble opinion based on what I've read. Further, I suspect that "the government" (people, mostly) reads the same articles as you and is privy to the same data as you. That is what is great about living in an open society.
I don't think there is any conspiracy keeping us from "handling" the truth. Why, you ask? Clinton couldn't keep things mum about getting blow jobs on the floor of the oval office. Nixon couldn't keep things mum about having broken into his political opponents' headquarters. Reagan couldn't keep things mum about having sold weapons to the Iranians to fund a terrorist army in Central America. Bush is having a problem keeping a lid on using forged documentation as a pretext for war (and WHO, pray tell, would forge such a thing anyway?) THESE are secrets that people would certainly have given anything to keep. And still they got out. Because "the government" isn't "the government" -- it is a bunch of people, all with agendas, all using what they know to their advantage when they can. Welcome to the wonderfully messy world of democracy.
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself, the above wasn't my point -- but I had to debunk the tinfoil hat wearers in this crowd at least a little...
I live in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. Most of those lakes are becoming unswimmable because of something called Eurasian Milfoil. Milfoil is a weed grows in lakes. It grows fast. Several feet a day. It was accidentally introduced to America in the early 1900s. It wasn't native but there isn't anything in the lakes on THIS side of the pond that like to eat it so it quickly clogs the entire lake.
And it spreads. From lake-to-lake. Boaters. Fish. Whatever. It finds a way to find a new lake that it can call home and it does. And once it does: Game over everyone else. Not instantly. And there is still a lake there. There is still water. And fish. But now there is a stinky gross weed clogging the entire lake for most of the summer, too. Not really enjoyable. A lot of nose holding and "I remember when we could swim in the lakes without all these weeds here" going on.
Hold on... I'm still building here. And I'm almost to the good stuff. (wait for it...)
My point is this: Let's say there is life on Mars. There won't be cows or zebra or fish or anything like that. No, there will be microbes. Tiny little red life forms that live with almost no oxygen and no water in the freezing cold, bombarded by radiation. Hmmmm... I'm not sure about the rest of you, but the prospect of bringing something that battle-hardened back to Earth to study does not inspire confidence in me. Chernobyl, Enron, Challenger, Columbia, Africanized Killer Bees, cross-pollinated genetically engineered corn... bad things happen unexpectedly. Stuff LEAKS. Again, no conspiracy needed, just the good old second law of thermodynamics coupled with that one law discovered by Murphy making a real world demonstration.
As I said in the subject of my post: I, for one, am glad we aren't going to Mars. We don't need any more milfoil, at least for now. Frankly, I'd be happy to see us wait a few thousand years. For real. Red mold everywhere? Yuck.
I would have to say that explosives are the most abused technology in all of history.
That's an argument to not come back.
/ASS(ES)|CARAPASE|SPINNERETTES|MANTLE|RING GANGLION|FLAGELLA|TAPROOT|HYPHAE|HOLDFAST|POSTERIO -VENTRAL REGIONS|Other appropriate target!/Hmmm... I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I am confident that my kind are battlehardened enough to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilisations, and fondue them. With appropriate technlogy they'd be able to live on not much more than dirt, water and sunlight.
Imagine if we sent everyone we didn't like, just like in the colonial days of sail.
Send them out into the worlds of ten thousand stars. They'll breed fast. Several children a decade. After all, we were accidentially introduced into america a long time ago, and we turned out ok. We weren't native but there wasn't anything on THIS side of the pond that like to eat us quick enough so now we're everywhere.
We can spread. From planet to planet. Solar sails. Nuclear rockets. Whatever. We'll find a way to a new planet to call home. Once we do, we'll make it our business to ensure it's game over for everything else that metabolises. Not instantly, of course. There'll still be a planet there. Some natural parks. and little red microbes. But we'll terraform the place until it looks the way we like it to look.
Hold on... I'm still building here. And I'm almost to the good stuff. (wait for it...)
My point is this: Lets say there is life on mars. WE'LL KICK ITS
WE ARE THE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPEN UNEXPECTEDLY. We leak. Again, no conspiracy needed, just the good old second law of thermodynamics coupled with that one law discovered by Murphy making a real world demonstration that it applies to everyone in the universe, not just homo sapiens.
As I said in the subject of my post: The inevitable spread of one lifeform over the corpses of another is not a reason to not to go to mars. It is a reason to go and never come back. The Brothers W made Agent Smith say that humanity spreads like a virus. I say that's not a bad idea. Imagine where we'll be in a few thousand years. For real. A human empire spanning most of the known universe with breakaway colonies running social experiments in government and morality? I'm packed. Bring it on!
And yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil,
For I am the evilest sonofabitch in the valley. -- Anonymous, 1967
Should someone intentionally introduce Martian microbes to similar extreme environments here on Earth, we might see something similar, but contained within those extreme environments, and having little impact on that portion of the biosphere we usually experience. Sure it would have some environmental impact, but likely not disastrous. Most likely it would integrate with the local ecology, though perhaps not in way we would like. Esthetically you feel your lakes have suffered by introduction of a weed that wasn't native to the environment 100 years ago, but it's not the end of the world. Only evolution in action. The contamination of these lakes could have happened naturally, and a similar adaptation cycle would have occurred. I suspect introduction of alien species has little true long term impact on the biosphere. Which is not to say such disruptions are desirable, or don't have severe local impacts, aesthetically and economically.
I would say it is likely we can bring back samples and contain them.
If we have an accident, it is unlikely the microbes will spread because they are not adapted to the immediate environment.
Should they somehow gain a toehold in an environment favorable to them, they will likely integrate with the ecology in some way, not totally displace it.
All and all, I think these points argue well for taking the risk of sample return missions, the reward being unknown insights into biological processes.
One final aside, I would use the International Space Station as a first containment stop for a sample return mission, and have written to NASA on this point. Not because is greatly enhances safety (and it probably adds to cost), but because it gives psychological reassurance to the general populace that NASA is doing everything to ensure safety, and it gives the ISS a true mission.
Letter To Iran