Slashdot Mirror
Plan To Bomb Mars For Signs of Climate Change
Oliver Harris writes "Scientists are planning on launching huge copper slugs at Mars in the hope that they will reveal signs of climate change. Problem: What happens when the Martians launch their own copper slugs back?" From the article: "'It's neat because it's a brute force way to gain access to the subsurface of Mars,' says David Spencer, a team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US. 'The impactor will be very simple and we'll get our first look at material from that depth.' Christensen says that will provide a crucial test for models of Mars's past climate."
AP, 2106: NASA scientists have determined that the Martian atmosphere contains a metric farkload of copper.
Wait - when did we add Spirit and Opportunity to the Axis of Evil?
2. "Problem: What happens when the Martians launch their own copper slugs back?"
3. "From the article: "'It's neat because it's a brute force way to gain access to the subsurface of Mars,' says David Spencer, a team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US."
4."The impactor will be very simple and we'll get our first look at material from that depth.'
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
...with the Beagle II?
( tongue firmly in cheek )
-EvilMagnus
this mission is perfect for our expertise! we've gotten quite good at sending huge chunks of metal hurtling twoard the surface of mars...
(with our luck, we'll miss completely and end up blowing up titan or europa and killing whatever life may reside there)
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
forget copper: real geeks find water with Potassium!
Problem: What happens when the Martians launch their own copper slugs back?
Marvin the Martian will take us on. "Where's the kaboom? There's supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!"
See, the secret plan is to provoke a copper war with the Martians. When they launch their copper projectiles back to Earth, we just catch them and use them. Brilliant, I say, simply brilliant!
Given the past history of Mars exporation, I'd say it's probably the best thing they could do -- as least if you're planning to crash into the planet, you won't be too upset when it happens.
(Spudley Strikes Again!)
Frist the Bombing, then by 2015 US will be sending troops to secure democracy in Mars. This is just part of the plan to bring freedom to mars people.
Take off. Nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
Unfortunately, due to a terrible miscalculation of scale, the entire Martian copper salvo will probably be accidentally swallowed by a small dog.
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
... why not send a chunk of nuclear waste?
And in a couple of millennia be attacked by venomous six-armed three-legged snakefrogsparrows instead of the warm welcome we'd get from the peaceful meerkatbutterflies that would have evolved instead?
The Hacker's Guide To The Kernel: Don't panic()!
We'll ruin the other planets later.
I have a truly marvelous proof of the Riemann hypothesis which this sig is too short to contain...
They should wait two days later so it would be on Thor's Day (Thursday).
For those who didn't read the article, the mission is called THOR (Tracing Habitability, Organics, and Resources).