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Mars May Have Been 1/3 Ocean

Posted by kdawson on from the blue-planet-red-planet dept.

coondoggie sends in a snippet from Network World, as is his wont: "It's possible that a huge ocean covered one-third of the surface of Mars some 3.5 billion years ago, a finding likely to reignite an old argument about that amount of water on the red planet, according to a new report. The study by the University of Colorado at Boulder is the first to integrate multiple data sets of river deltas, valley networks and topography from a cadre of NASA and European Space Agency orbiting missions of Mars dating back to 2001, the researchers claim." The National Geographic coverage of the news gives some air time to those doubtful that this study will prove definitive.

8 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. maybe it's time to enlist the Japanese by ChipMonk · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They just proved they can bring back material from an asteroid. Let's see if they can duplicate the feat on Mars.

    1. Re:maybe it's time to enlist the Japanese by JoshuaZ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We don't know if the capsule from Hayabusa does contain material yet. Also note that a sample-return mission to Mars will be much more difficult than a sample-return mission to an asteroid. The gravity of an asteroid is negligible. But Mars has gravity that is around a third that of Earth. That's a lot. So a sampling robot would need to land on Mars and then return fighting against the large Martian gravity well. It would probably need to carry its fuel with it which means it would need to have a lot of mass to start with and which would make a safe landing even more difficult. We'll probably have successful sample-return from Mars before a human mission their but the technical difficulty with even a sample-return mission is immense.

    2. Re:maybe it's time to enlist the Japanese by stevelinton · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Getting to Mars is, in some was, easier than getting to an asteroid, because you can stop for free at Mars. Getting home again is much harder. There's no cheap way OFF Mars.

    3. Re:maybe it's time to enlist the Japanese by Teun · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Oh?

      Then why have parachutes been deployed on virtually every successful Mars landing?

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  2. We'll Never Know by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The National Geographic coverage of the news gives some air time to those doubtful that this study will prove definitive.

    3.5 billion years ago is too long ago for us to ever *know* definitively. We won't get to Mars for decades and it would be decades after that before any real "hands on" research could even bring us closer to a "definitive" answer (which will still inly be a best guess).

    1. Re:We'll Never Know by MichaelSmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The National Geographic coverage of the news gives some air time to those doubtful that this study will prove definitive.

      3.5 billion years ago is too long ago for us to ever *know* definitively. We won't get to Mars for decades and it would be decades after that before any real "hands on" research could even bring us closer to a "definitive" answer (which will still inly be a best guess).

      Are you a geologist?

      --
      http://michaelsmith.id.au
    2. Re:We'll Never Know by camperdave · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There's radioactive carbon dating. Oh, won't work. Well, you can look at the sedimentation layers. Oh, won't work. Well, there's always guesswork.

      Carbon dating and sedimentation layer examination are both guesswork. Educated guesswork, possibly even accurate guesswork, but guesswork nonetheless.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  3. Re:Intelligent life by Psaakyrn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What sort of intelligent life would cause oil pollution?