Half of Mars May Have Ice

Ixlr8 sends in a BBC story suggesting that up to half of Mars may have ice at varying depths below the surface. Quoting: "Up until now, scientists had been able to search for water deposits using a spectrometer fixed to the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft. However, only readings that are accurate to within several hundred kilometers can be obtained. By comparing seasonal changes in thermal infrared patterns, detected by the same Odyssey spacecraft, [scientists] can make readings accurate to within just hundreds of meters."

Comments

Half of Mars may have ice

[Timesprout]

Let the other half eat cake.

how shallow does it get?

[jcgf]

Could we push off a meter of dust and get to the ice to build a skating rink? The pioneers will need something to do for fun once the colonies begin.

Re:how shallow does it get?

[R2.0]

"pioneers will need something to do for fun once the colonies begin."

I'm sure they will do the same thing settlers did in every colonozation waze in human history.

Fucking. Lots and lots of baby making.

Sign me up.

Optimism much?

[rambag]

I say that the glass Mars is half empty of ice.

Too bad...

[aardvarkjoe]

Unfortunately, the other half has all the beer.

Re:A new earth for us

[Red Flayer]

I never understood the argument for populating another planet as a means for survival.

The same reason you use RAID to help your data survive. Redundancy. When the big one (meteor) hits, it won't wipe out the entire species.

Although, it should be said that Redundant Array of Planetary Environments doesn't acronymize as well as Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives.

Uses for finely ground ice

[billstewart]

If we've colonized the place, then we'll have the capability of generating ethanol. Combining that with Martian ice should let you make margaritas, or at least dacquiris, which should take care of what you need...

My god, it's full of ice!

[rubberbandball]

Coming summer 20(xx): D4: Ducks on Mars. Emilio Estevez, amazingly still alive; reprises his role as coach of the district 5 hockey team. Even more amazing, no one on the team has aged and they are all in peak physical condition since the last film in the series. Also, the old man who runs the store is alive. The team travels to Mars to compete against some nation who is vastly better in at hockey in every way than the USA in the first Interplanetary-No-One-Cares-About-Hockey Tournament. Along the way, they find out the true meaning of friendship and family; and much to the dismay of NASA, the girl who plays the other goalie in the 2nd and 3rd movies has sex with everyone on board except Goldberg. I for one, cannot wait.

The Halfs and the Halfs-Not

[R3d M3rcury]

You see, this is the problem with Mars: One half has all the ice and the other half has none. There should be an equitable sharing of the ice. We need to get some Marsxists up there ASAP.

Either that, or the other half of Mars needs to get some ice quickly. After all, we cannot have an Ice gap...

Scientists have also discovered

[obeythefist]

A large console underneath the surface of mars, with a funny looking handprint.

When discussing with chief scientist/agent Douglas Quaid, he commented "Two weeeeks". Then he put his hand on the console, melted the ice, got blown outside and his face puffed up and burst.

True story.