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Despite Clay Minerals, Early Mars Might Have Been Dry

Posted by timothy on from the but-omg-mars dept.

astroengine writes "Early Mars may not have been as warm or wet as scientists suspect, a finding which could impact the likelihood that the Red Planet was capable of evolving life at the time when it was getting started on Earth. A new study presents an alternative explanation for the prevalence of Mars' ancient clay minerals, which on Earth most often result from water chemically reacting with rock over long periods of time. The process is believed to be a starting point for life."

4 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. They keep changing the narrative.. by tetrahedrassface · · Score: 5, Informative

    This isn't new news, but the scientific establishment that gets the budgets to conduct space exploration is selling us Mars because they know it is doable within the context of current budgets and technologies. Mars is pretty much way too dry and has been. It also lacks a magnetosphere and despite *one lame little plate* any hint of past large scale plate tectonics. Mars is interesting for sure, but it would be nice to also have a real base on luna with which to assemble a vehicle to take us on to Mars and with which to test technologies with the intent of sending humans on to Mars. Europa and even Venus deserve attention as well, but it seems Mars is in our comfort zone so we keep going back....

    1. Re:They keep changing the narrative.. by khallow · · Score: 4, Informative

      2) It currently costs tens of thousands of dollars to put a single kilogram of mass into space. If you're going to get any kind of industry up there, it's going to cost trillions of dollars.

      It's currently around $5,000 per kg for the Russian launch vehicles. SpaceX threatens to halve that cost.

  2. No magnetosphere, no mass by udachny · · Score: 4, Informative

    Mars has no magnetosphere, it's has 89% less mass, it is half of the Earth's diameter. Mars could never really sustain a breathable atmosphere with oxygen and nitrogen just because of those characteristics, those gases would simply fly off into space, there cannot be enough density and pressure on the surface of Mars to hold a breathable atmosphere.

    Of-course living organisms can survive in various other types of atmosphere, for example carbon dioxide, but even that gas cannot be held by Mars in enough density for anything to breath it.

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    1. Re:No magnetosphere, no mass by spaceplanesfan · · Score: 4, Informative

      Titan disagrees with you.