Mars Express Confirms Water on Mars

jki writes "So, finally: Through the initial mapping of the South polar cap on 18 January, OMEGA, the combined camera and infrared spectrometer, has already revealed the presence of water ice and carbon dioxide ice. This information was confirmed by the PFS, a new high-resolution spectrometer of unprecedented accuracy. The first PFS data also show that the carbon oxide distribution is different in the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars. The MaRS instrument, a sophisticated radio transmitter and receiver, emitted a first signal successfully on 21 January that was received on Earth through a 70- metre antenna in Australia after it was reflected and scattered from the surface of Mars. This new measurement technique allows the detection of the chemical composition of the Mars atmosphere, ionosphere and surface." On another note, NASA has gotten some sort of signal from Spirit, but it's still not fully functional.

Comments

But of course...

[bc90021]

...we're all still waiting for confirmation of bacteria and/or bacteria fossils. I certainly hope that NASA can establish good contact with Spirit again soon, and that Opportunity lands safely tomorrow!

Scientific point of view

[MountainMan101]

As a scientist, although I find it very interesting that they have "discovered" water on Mars, I do no think it is the ground breaking discovery that it has been played up as.

From the geological appearance water was always expected, Hydrogen and Oxygen are both abundant enough (in the early history of Mars - not in the atmosphere at the moment). H2O is the thermodynamic result.

Although the absence of water would almost certainly have procluded the existance of "life" on Mars, the existance of water is not, in itself, that startling a discovery.

It is important that scientific funding goes towards real science and not satisfying the public demand for fantastic revelations!

Finally, well done ESA for building a spectrometer that accurate, and getting it there :-)

Is Spirit Waterproof?

[stuffduff]

I wonder if there is enough vapor to form condensation and potential short circuts where dust might accumulate in microscopically damp areas. Other concerns include areas of unusually high magnetic activity where magnetized iron bearing minerals might form accidential circuts. Or the possibility of static discharges, like mini lightening.

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of what the rovers are designed to deal with?

It may be time to return to a soft landing strategy.

I'm curious...

[mark-t]

We've seen several photos now of the vicinity of the nasa lander, but I've been wondering... what does the area reallya look like at night? Do its moons reflect enough light for detail in nearby objects to be discernable, or is everything just cast in shadow?

Moderation: -0.66 Mildly Off-Topic

Re:I'm curious...

[CaptainAlbert]

Do its moons reflect enough light for detail in nearby objects to be discernable, or is everything just cast in shadow?

Unlikely. Phobos and Deimos are tiny, and orbit very fast, very close to the surface of Mars. They can't even be seen from all points of the Martian surface. I'm guessing that in the Martian night-time, if they pass overhead they're entirely in Mars's shadow and thus cast no light. I think they're only visible at dawn and at dusk, under certain lucky conditions.

What I'd love to see it some photos of the night sky. I've always wanted to see the same constellations from a planet other than Earth. Dunno why, just seems significant to me.

Don't know 10 bps

[Zorgoth]

I work in the oilfield operating a 2 tons monstrosity called an MWD. These things are used to transmit data from up to a 10 km deep hole and on the basis of this data the decision of which way to drill a well are made (oil wells are usually not vertical affairs these days). Multi-million dollar decisions are regularly made on a data from a transfer rate of less than 10 bps, 6 bps is excellent and transmission rates are often in the range of 0.5-3 bits per second. You would be surprised at how much system information can be crammed into that bandwidth if the programmers are clever. Incidentally, my tools use a modulation/demodulation scheme similar to that used on the Voyager probes, we just have to transmit through viscous mud with pressure instead of light across the solar system.

what sort of commands get sent?

[Raleel]

i mean...I know they got limited bandwidth and all, but what sort of protocol do they use?

good lord, this is an incredibly geeky question, but I'm serious, i wanna know.

Re:heh

[forand]

But why? In all seriousness what reason do we have to go to Mars? The moon is a much better astronomy platform since it has no atmosphere and lower gravity, plus it is much easier to get to.

So what purpose does going to Mars serve? I am a physicist btw, working on GLAST for what is is worth.

Re:heh

[AKAImBatman]

Unfortunately, it is the government's responsibility to encourage new economic growth. Capitalism is great (at least I like it), but it requires that the government help it along every once in awhile. Since space is not a "safe" investment, no company is going to invest in it. Not to mention that Nuclear technologies are still carefully controlled. Thus the government is going to have to develop the initial technology, prove it, then give it away to companies who wish to make a profit on it.