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Rover Finds Ancient Streambed On Martian Surface
sighted writes "NASA reports that its Curiosity rover mission has found evidence that a stream once ran vigorously — and for a sustained amount of time — across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is, of course, earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but NASA says this evidence, images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels, is the first of its kind."
There are other fluids than water that can sustain a semicolloidal solution or carry sediments. I assume that scientists now have to figure out what fluid flowed, rather than simply assuming that it had to be water.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
So we spend billions to look at dirt !!
Look, touch, analyze. It sure beats sending 2-3 meatbags on Mars to do the same thing.
Rover could have been washed away.
Launch, fly 54.6 million kilometers, land, drown. No profit in that.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I believe those meatbags are commonly referred to as: "Ugly bags of mostly water"
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
no, soil contains organic remains. dirt and regolith do not.
I see Thoat tracks.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
And imagine how much more they could get done while they sit around on that red rock waiting to die.
Nice job, submitting and subsequently accepting, an article with a link to the NASA article instead of some random blog linking to a multipage ad-heavy website that only vaguely discusses the NASA article. More of this, please.
How naive am I to get excited at the thought we might happen upon a fossil?
while [ 1 ]; do echo -n -e "\xe2\x95\xb$((($RANDOM&1)+1))"; done
I don't believe there is any requirement for soil to contain organic remains.
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (soil horizons) that are primarily composed of minerals which differ from their parent materials in their texture, structure, consistency, colour, chemical, biological and other characteristics. It is the unconsolidated or loose covering of fine rock particles that covers the surface of the earth.[1] Soil is the end product of the influence of the climate (temperature, precipitation), relief (slope), organisms (flora and fauna), parent materials (original minerals), temperature, and time. In engineering, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose rock material. Strictly speaking, soil is the depth of regolith that influences and has been influenced by plant roots and may range in depth from centimetres to many metres.
So it doesn't have to contain organics, just has to have been affected by plant roots. Soil is almost always reffered to when talking about stuff to grow things on/in and then on land. You don't talk about the sands of the Sahara as soil after all. Or the soil at the bottom of the sea.
But hey, go right ahead kid, show yourself to be a true dweed and insist on using words by their most strict interpretation, it will warn everyone that you are someone who hasn't any social skills whatsoever. I would warn you to now go try to order soil to fill your kids sandbox but I think it is safe to assume you never will be in that situation.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.