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Kansas Soil Yields Massive Meteorite

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the that-rocks dept.

ROMRIX writes "The Discovery Channel is reporting that Scientists have unearthed a 154 pound meteorite from a Kansas field using ground penetrating radar. The article also states that this type of radar may someday be used on Mars to locate water in a future mission."

7 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Arathon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are plenty of other places in our own world that could probably benefit from the discovery of water...try Africa. It seems like maybe that should be a higher priority?

    1. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by inKubus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Too bad most water is used for irrigation and landscaping. Basically, we just need to cut down on our beef consumption (which wastes more water than almost anything) and close a few golf courses.

      --
      Cool! Amazing Toys.
    2. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by killjoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Get rid of the lawns. Lawn grass required over two inches of rain per week (or the equavalent in sprinklers) and does nothing. Plant native grasses, put in rocks, put in bark, or better yet plant some vegetables and feed yourself too.

      --
      evil is as evil does
    3. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by MoralHazard · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To paraphrase the late, great, Sam Kinison, why don't we just give them Winnebagos so they can go where the water is?

      But seriously... Most of Africa's population ISN'T living in the desert, like you're imagining. Africa has lots of other climates, and most of the populated areas get plenty of rainfall. (That makes sense, doesn't it? People tend to congregate in areas where they don't DIE OF THIRST.)

      Honestly, Africa has suffered its droughts and famines, but rarely is it the case that there is no food. It's like the Irish during their famines: people are too poor to buy food, too poor to afford high-tech irrigation and fertilizer, etc. And generally, the poverty comes from bad government--they don't have access to education, health care, and the other niceties that us Slashdot posters take for granted.

      So here's the REAL plan: give them Winnebagos so they can go where the good government is.

    4. Re:Don't wait until we get to Mars... by Jonny+do+good · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Fireboy1919,

      I don't know what you are talking about, almost everyone in Florida has an irrigation system and uses it for 6 months a year. During the dry season the grass will dry up and die without irrigation. I don't think people should use grass in Florida, it isn't native and hogs valuable groundwater reserves. The recent increase in sinkhole formation in Florida is correlated with the decline in the water table, particularly in Central Florida. Sinkholes are a natural occurrence but they haven't happened nearly as often historically as recently. Very few people there use native plants to fill their yards and I really think everyone should.

  2. How many more have been mislabelled as mere rocks? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I wonder, over the many millions of years that the earth has been around, how many other meteorites of this size or larger have struck ground and subsequently been covered with layers of dirt only to be uncovered later by construction workers who don't understand the value of the space rock, much less identify it as one.

    One good thing about our travels to Mars is that every single person who will be there, at least for the early phases of the colony, will be scientists, so we won't have to worry about mislabelled meteorites.

  3. Some kind of radar-excavator? by jginspace · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Scientists have unearthed a 154 pound meteorite [CC] from a Kansas field using ground penetrating radar.

    Should have read "located with the help of ground-penetrating radar".