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Plan To Bomb Mars For Signs of Climate Change

Posted by Zonk on from the brute-forces-science dept.

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."

7 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. The results by Syberghost · · Score: 5, Funny

    AP, 2106: NASA scientists have determined that the Martian atmosphere contains a metric farkload of copper.

  2. boom by God'sDuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait - when did we add Spirit and Opportunity to the Axis of Evil?

  3. Overkill? by redheaded_stepchild · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Couldn't we get more data by drilling cores like we do at the poles and other places around the world? Seems to me that all we would really succeed in doing is throwing the evidence in a million different directions. And have we built a rover that is capable of not getting stuck in a crater?

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    Don't use the Troll mod just because you disagree with me.
    1. Re:Overkill? by Kelson · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sure, but drilling cores is something that needs a lot of equipment and hands-on control. It'd be great for a manned mission, but it's tricky to fit a hundred-foot-plus telescoping drill onto a rover and expect it to work.

      This way you can blast a crater and then analyze the dust spectroscopically.

  4. Didn't we do this already? by EvilMagnus · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...with the Beagle II?

    ( tongue firmly in cheek )

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    -EvilMagnus
  5. Re:Copper Shortage by dheltzel · · Score: 4, Funny

    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!

  6. Bombing Mars by Xymor · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.