Water Discovery Is Good News For Mars Colonists

astroengine writes "By now, we probably all know that there was once significant quantities of water on the Martian surface and, although the red planet is bone dry by terrestrial standards, water persists as ice just below the surface to this day. Now, according to a series of new papers published in the journal Science, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has found that the Mars topsoil is laced with surprisingly high quantities of the wet stuff. And this could be good news for future Mars colonists. 'If you take a cubic foot of that soil you can basically get two pints of water out it — a couple of water bottles like you'd take to the gym, worth of water,' Curiosity scientist Laurie Leshin, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, N.Y., told Discovery News."

Comments

water bottles like you'd take to the gym?

[Anonymous Coward]

I know that US public education is going to hell, but do we really need articles to explain what a pint is?

Re:water bottles like you'd take to the gym?

[strength_of_10_men]

'If you take a cubic foot of that soil you can basically get two beer glasses-worth of water out it'

I think that's pretty much an international standard, right?

Re:water bottles like you'd take to the gym?

[gandhi_2]

The average American kid probably knows better what a pint is better than what a gym is, or what kind of bottle you'd bring to one.

How much is that in shot glasses?

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought since a certain missed orbital maneuver, people talking about Mars had agreed to only use metric...

Re:Colonists will be great.

[TheCarp]

Not just a matter of values but of fear of risk. Risk tolerance has become quite low and seems to just be getting worst as the place gets safer and the perception of the world gets smaller.