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Lots of Pure Water Ice At Mars North Pole

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the so-what-my-freezer-has-tons-of-it dept.

brink2012 writes "Planum Boreum, Mars' north polar cap contains water ice 'of a very high degree of purity,' according to an international study. Using radar data from the SHARAD (SHAllow RADar) instrument on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), French researchers say the data point to 95 percent purity in the polar ice cap. The north polar cap is a dome of layered, icy materials, similar to the large ice caps in Greenland and Antarctica, consisting of layered deposits, with mostly ice and a small amount of dust. Combined, the north and south polar ice caps are believed to hold the equivalent of two to three million cubic kilometers (0.47-0.72 million cu. miles) of ice, making it roughly 100 times more than the total volume of North America's Great Lakes, which is 22,684 cu. kms (5,439 miles). The study was done by researchers at France's National Institute of Sciences of the Universe (Insu), using the Italian built SHARAD radar sounder on the US built MRO. SHARAD looks for liquid or frozen water in the first few hundreds of feet (up to 1 kilometer) of Mars' crust by using subsurface sounding. It can detect liquid water and profile ice. Mars southern polar cap was once thought to be carbon dioxide ice, but ESA's Mars Express confirmed that it is composed of a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. The study on Mars north polar cap appears in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union."

19 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Atrocious Summary by CompMD · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is the worst written summary I have seen in ages. With all the unit conversions, I wonder if this guy is a former engineer for an old NASA Mars probe team...

  2. Re:We had pure water once... by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yea just look what the salt industry did to our oceans, we can't even drink of the ocean anymore.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  3. So Close by Punko · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sufficient Gravity - Check

    Sufficient Sunlight - Check

    Friable surface (soil) - Check

    Sufficient Source of water - check

    Sufficient Atmosphere - ummmmm

    Sufficient Magnetosphere - uh oh

    Cigar - Nope.

    Close, but no cigar.

    --
    If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
    1. Re:So Close by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Funny

      I was thinking in terms that solar power is just a question of land area,

      So presumably you're going to blow your first wish on making 400 square kilometres of solar panels magically appear? Why not just wish for a nuclear plant, or better yet, Alyson Hannigan riding a pony?

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  4. logistics by rarel · · Score: 2, Funny

    We're still looking for the way to get the Bourbon over there though.

  5. Look at that bottled water opportunity! by tjstork · · Score: 4, Funny

    Martian Water!

    4 billion years old, untouched by mankind!

    Unique solar system chemistry boosts your base DNA!

    Live longer!

    Improve your love life!

    Martian Water: Now only $1,000 a liter!

    --
    This is my sig.
    1. Re:Look at that bottled water opportunity! by Futile+Rhetoric · · Score: 5, Funny

      You're right! It sounds almost too good to be true!

    2. Re:Look at that bottled water opportunity! by N3Roaster · · Score: 4, Funny

      The trick, of course, is to dehydrate that water before it leaves Mars. Your liter of water turns into a small packet of dust which your customers simply need to reconstitute before use.

      --
      Remember RFC 873!
    3. Re:Look at that bottled water opportunity! by Prof.Phreak · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...don't forget naturally carbonated!

      --

      "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy

    4. Re:Look at that bottled water opportunity! by tjstork · · Score: 3, Funny

      The trick, of course, is to dehydrate that water before it leaves Mars. Your liter of water turns into a small packet of dust which your customers simply need to reconstitute before use

      I guess you would call that Marsani?

      --
      This is my sig.
    5. Re:Look at that bottled water opportunity! by computersareevil · · Score: 2, Funny

      I tried drinking that once. I prefer water.

  6. Technical name for it by jc42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    We have a name for a mixture of water and carbon dioxide. It's called "seltzer water". With added impurities, it's sold as "soft drinks".

    Mmmm ... Martian dust cola. Satisfies your body's need for hundreds of trace minerals.

    --
    Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  7. When do they start bottling it by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Funny

    and sending it down to hit store shelves?

    If they can have "iceberg" water, I'm sure Mars water will also have an audience:
    http://www.finewaters.com/Bottled_Water/Canada/Berg.asp

    Me? I'm going into the dihydrogen monoxide business.

  8. You have to get to Mahs by Timberwolf0122 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Staht Da Reactah! http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1312

    --
    In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
  9. Re:We had pure water once... by numbsafari · · Score: 4, Funny

    What's even crazy is the FISH.

    Get this: the fish breathe the water, they poop AND pee in the water, they drink the water and they eat other things that also live in the water.

    I mean, they basically live their entire lives in the water they crap in.

    Yeast are like that, too.

    Anyhow, I'm gonna go grab me a tall, frosty mug of yeast shit infested water.... I mean beer...

  10. If you insist... by geobeck · · Score: 2, Funny

    How about comparing apples to apples?

    Okay, the volume is approximately equal to 25,000,000,000,000 apples.

    --
    Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
  11. Re:Yes, the Fall into Sin of Environmental Religio by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

    A cow could die upstream and wipe out a village.

    Seriously, people drank beer and wine for a very good reason. It was sanitary and wouldn't kill you like the water would.

    Also, if you drink enough of it, you stop caring about all the cow corpses lying around!

  12. Re:Oil by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 2, Funny

    Close enough?

    Call me when it rains Martinis.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  13. Re:Earth's oceans are about 96.5 % pure water by ozbird · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you melted it, the dust would drop out, and the result might very well be drinkable.

    You first - I'm not drinking anything containing cryogenically frozen Martian organisms.