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Mars Harder and Colder Than Previously Thought
coondoggie writes "Turns out that the surface of Mars is stiffer and colder than previously thought. New observations from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicate that any liquid water that might exist below the planet's surface and any possible organisms living in that water would be located deeper than scientists had suspected. NASA made the discovery while using the Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on the Orbiter, which revealed long, continuous layers stretching up to 600 miles, or about one-fifth the length of the United States. The radar pictures show a smooth, flat border between the ice cap and the rocky Martian crust, NASA said. On Earth, the weight of a similar stack of ice would cause the planet's surface to sag. The fact that the Martian surface is not bending means that its strong outer shell, or lithosphere, a combination of its crust and upper mantle, must be very thick and cold."
I compiled the first in situ measurements of the annual temp and pressure cylces on mars (viking lander).
I was always surprised by the mars has water debate when it seemed to me the vapor pressure of the atmosphere was less than the vappor pressure of water.
Thus to my mind if mars had water in any abbundance then it had to be bound up in some mixture that was lowering the vapor pressure.
Apparently there may be another possibility: deep very cold storage.
But either way: no available surface water. No canals. no oceans.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
> 600 miles or about one-fifth the length of the United States
Or, to clarify, about 236417 Volkswagen Beetles in length.