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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."
Weren't they warning us just the other day that we don't have enough copper? http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/ 18/1623244
And now they want to go shooting a bunch of it into space?
Didn't recent news articles about a Yale study say that we're going to be short on copper soon? Then why are we shooting "huge copper slugs" at mars? Why not huge slugs made of some slightly more abundant metal? Or is the study just bunk?
Perhaps some people should read slashdot more... Didn't I just read a story... oh yeah here it is. http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/ 18/1623244&from=rss
You're completely right. There literally is not enough available copper on earth to provide wiring and piping for the parts of the world that don't yet have it, at the currently used densities(i.e. taking into account PVC piping and such). We should certainly not be sending huge slugs of it hurling into space. I guess they choose Copper for it's lack of reactivity, but seriously... it doesn't even need to be depleted uranium, why not send a chunk of nuclear waste? I'm sure there is plenty of at least the density and stability of copper, which could be loaded at the last second before launch and shielded with lead or depleted uranium. I mean, it's just going to slam into rock and dirt anyway...
Does a line appended to your comment give your post meaning in and of itself, or only in relation to those without?
at least with copper.
I hope I didn't brain my damage.