Well Water Likely Available Across Mars (behindtheblack.com)

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Well Water Likely Available Across Mars (behindtheblack.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on Saturday February 2, 2019 @09:34AM from the ice-planets dept.

schwit1 quotes Behind the Black: A science paper released today and available for download [pdf] cites evidence from about two dozen deep impact craters located from the equator to 37 degrees north latitude that Mars has a ground ice table at an elevation that also corresponds to other shoreline features.
The paper calls this evidence of "planet-wide groundwater" with elevations that "notably coincide with the elevation of some ocean shorelines proposed by previous authors."

Science writer Robert Zimmerman adds that "The evidence suggests that this deep groundwater water table (as ice) almost certainly still exists at all latitudes, though almost entirely underground...

"All you will have to do is dig a well..."

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"All you will have to do is dig a well..." by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 09:50 · Score: 1

Ice in a dozen craters is being extrapolated into planet-wide groundwater, which in turn is being extrapolated into "all you need to do is dig a well" - which in turn means Coca Cola production on Mars begins in 2025!
1. Re: "All you will have to do is dig a well..." by Seewhatidonehere · 2019-02-02 11:05 · Score: 0
  
  Likely. But not for sure. Or maybe yes. But no wait, what if not. Never mind, to get to it is UNLIKELY becouse logistics of the task. Also no one will ever go there to start digging. Ever.
2. Re: "All you will have to do is dig a well..." by aliquis · 2019-02-03 02:21 · Score: 1
  
  In Sweden we already have julmust.
  Bring the Julmusk.
3. Re: "All you will have to do is dig a well..." by aliquis · 2019-02-03 02:22 · Score: 1
  
  No or course we won't travel to Mars that's such crazy talk ....
Well? by Early+Six+Digit+UID · 2019-02-02 09:52 · Score: 2

We're waiting.
1. Re: Well? by phantomfive · 2019-02-02 10:35 · Score: 1
  
  That's a deep subject.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
2. Re: Well? by reboot246 · 2019-02-02 13:44 · Score: 1
  
  For such a shallow mind.
3. Re: Well? by phantomfive · 2019-02-02 13:46 · Score: 2
  
  Well well well. That's three deep subjects.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Space Nutter Central Command by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 09:52 · Score: 0

must be very excited at this news
http://oi67.tinypic.com/35c278...
1. Re:Space Nutter Central Command by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 11:17 · Score: 0
  
  Nuts? I prefer to speak of genuine Californian Mars almonds.
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too deep by KiloByte · 2019-02-02 09:59 · Score: 5, Informative

TFA says the ground-ice table is 4.0-4.8km below the surface. That'd make the well quite deep -- we did manage a 12km hole on Earth but it took multiple decades to dig. Doing so without means to ship all the equipment might be a wee bit hard.
And if you dig that deep, you might reach Hidden Fun Stuff.

--
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
1. Re:too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:04 · Score: -1
  
  I think we'll find all the hidden fun stuff we need back on Earth, just digging through a few pieces of paper deep into Trump's tax returns. The fun won't stop while he's in office, or even long after he's out. Fun for life for his whole family.
  In prison.
2. Re: too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:14 · Score: 0
  
  He still has a headache from the abuse he took at the hands of pelosi
3. Re:too deep by cruff · 2019-02-02 10:19 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  More precisely it is at the level that is 4 km below the "Mars 17 DATUM", which could be thought of as a possible sea level reference if Mars actually had surface water oceans. It just means you need to be located at a site with an elevation lower than that reference to find the water. Still, that doesn't mean it will be easy to access or treat.
4. Re: too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:22 · Score: -1
  
  She kicked his ass so hard he forgot his nickname for her. He'll never recover. Everyone saw what a pussy he's always been lol, picking fights he has no chance of winning and then running for the door. Can't run in Federal prison though.
5. Re:too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:29 · Score: 0
  
  we are regularly drilling 2+ km down for oil... some times doing that under oceans....
  The digging is with in the realm of possibility... having the equipment onsite is admittedly a challenge...
  The part where your reward for doing the digging is very possibly access to a well with ice at the bottom, which won't flow like a liquid to replace anything you pump out is probably going to disincentive and one from doing it a second time, so even if you can get the equipment there, don't count on making a fortune renting it out.
6. Re:too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:46 · Score: 0
  
  Actually the deeper you go the more likely it is to be liquid water obviously. Ice at the surface, water below. How deep, how much, and how much work to get it, nobody knows. All of this is based on a dubious conjecture.
  Drilling on Mars is hundreds of times more complicated than drilling under the ocean, which we regularly fuck up at despite "expertise" and local observations spanning centuries.
  For all we know the water in the craters could be the result of impacts or the remnant of a long-gone atmosphere. Saying all you have to do is drill a well is beyond naive, it's completely hopeful bullshit at this point.
  The authors hope to make names for themselves if correct, or be dead before we find out anyway. It's a win win either way, nobody is going to be able to debunk them until it no longer matters if they were right or not.
  Mars is the tree of all possibilities for those writing breathless bullshit papers. "All you need to do is drill a well" - it should be obvious.
7. Re:too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 11:19 · Score: 0
  
  The crust of Mars is 31-78 miles and with 0.38g, existing mining technology can reach MUCH deeper if it can deal with the temps. The deepest drilling at Vostok in Antarctica is 3.6km. Vostok has also reached -89.2C - the temperature of a typical Martian night.
  Other depths of interest:
  How deep would one have to go to be under the Armstrong limit?
  How deep for 1 atm pressure?
8. Re:too deep by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:47 · Score: 1
  
  It will be relatively simple to access the water. We can already drill to that depth here on Earth, even in Antartica.
9. Re:too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 14:19 · Score: 1
  
  I take it you've never drilled a well. 4KM deep is a really long hole. Drilling in Antartica would be easy peasy, ice melts into water and is easy to pump out. Rocks, not so much. 4KM of rock would take forever.
10. Re: too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 18:40 · Score: 0
  
  There is no ground water you libtards. It's fookin -80 on Mars. Many gases turn to liquid and (dry) ice at those temps.
11. Re: too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 19:35 · Score: 0
  
  I take it you've never drilled for oil? A 4 km deep well is a big project, but certainly doable here on earth.
12. Re: too deep by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 19:39 · Score: 0
  
  Earth gets hotter as you go down through the crust. Mars will too, but by how much, we don't know yet. The Insight probe will give some ...insight.
13. Re: too deep by Maelwryth · 2019-02-02 19:45 · Score: 1
  
  Why would we drill? Why not cover an area and heat it with a solar mirror?
  
  --
  I reserve the write to mangle english.
Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-02 10:02 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Nobody is going to Mars this century. Deal with it.

--
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
1. Re:Does not matter by cruff · 2019-02-02 10:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I'm sure Elon will be greatly saddened to be called a nobody.
2. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:30 · Score: 0
  
  Er.. nobody cares at all
3. Re: Does not matter by phantomfive · 2019-02-02 10:37 · Score: 1
  
  That seems increasingly unlikely. The technology is there, it's just a matter of finding someone crazy enough to push it through and get it done.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
4. Re:Does not matter by Nivag064 · 2019-02-02 10:52 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Nobody is going to Mars this century. Deal with it.
  I am confident that Man will get to Mars within 10 years, and that people will be living on Mars for several Martian years within 20 years.
  Rocket technology is both far more sophisticated and cheaper in real terms, than it was when Man landed on the Moon. Almost totally reusable rockets of the BFR class and above, will make it happen. Provided Trump, and his ignorant ilk, don't get in the way.
5. Re: Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-02 11:11 · Score: 1
  
  The technology is not there. We have a somewhat reliable capability to put people into low earth orbit. We do not have the capability to get people to the Moon at this time and we never had it except for a very brief visit, followed by running home. When we have had a stable, self-sufficient Moon-base for 30 years or so, Mars will slowly become a possibility, but that Moon-base is wayyyy off in the future, if it happens at all.
  
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6. Re:Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-02 11:13 · Score: 2
  
  You have no clue what you are talking about. I do get that it is "modern" to expect great things for the near future, but that does not make it any less demented and stupid.
  
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  Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
7. Re:Does not matter by currently_awake · 2019-02-02 11:31 · Score: 1
  
  Nobody SHOULD go to Mars this century, but probably will. We need to search for life before we contaminate the planet with earth life because: 1-It gets much harder to detect once you have contamination. 2-We might kill off native life, possibly including intelligent life. 3-We might bring something nasty back.
8. Re:Does not matter by Brett+Buck · 2019-02-02 11:32 · Score: 0
  
  Butthurt fanboi alert!
9. Re: Does not matter by phantomfive · 2019-02-02 11:36 · Score: 1
  
  We do not have the capability to get people to the Moon
  
  This is a ridiculous statement. We have the technology to go to the moon, technology has advanced since the '70s. It's just a matter of whether we want to do it or not.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
10. Re:Does not matter by currently_awake · 2019-02-02 11:37 · Score: 1
  
  We've had the ability to colonize the Moon since the first moon landings. We didn't because of Cost. We've had the ability to get to Mars since the moon landings. We didn't because of Cost. The supply of easy money doesn't appear to have improved.
11. Re: Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-02 11:42 · Score: 1
  
  This is a ridiculous statement. We have the technology to go to the moon, technology has advanced since the '70s. It's just a matter of whether we want to do it or not.
  You seem to be unaware of how this works: If you do not continuously use them, technological capabilities deteriorate and go away. Many things needed to go to the moon have not been used for a long time and hence are not available anymore. They need to be re-discovered and that takes time. Also, just go there, walk around and come back will not cut it. That this is mostly a meaningless stunt is far more obvious today than it was back then.
  
  --
  Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
12. Re: Does not matter by currently_awake · 2019-02-02 11:43 · Score: 2
  
  We can make a good business case for a colony on the moon. To build orbital solar power stations and railgun them into Earth orbit. On a planetary power grid scale the astronomical cost of a colony is smaller than launching the stations from Earth. There is no plausible business case for a colony on Mars. None. Nothing with any hope of a return on investment within a human lifespan.
13. Re: Does not matter by phantomfive · 2019-02-02 11:48 · Score: 1
  
  Many things needed to go to the moon have not been used for a long time and hence are not available anymore.
  Like what? Core memory? Guess we'll really regret not having that around anymore.
  
  --
  "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
14. Re:Does not matter by apoc.famine · 2019-02-02 12:00 · Score: 1
  
  You're going to be really sad then. Because that's not going to happen.
  We can keep a half dozen people at most alive on the ISS with monthly supply runs, and we're less than a day away. It took us three years to just have the basic structures in place and hooked up.
  Mars is 6-9 months away, and it takes a giant rocket to get there. That's no Soyuz or Falcon. That's BFR or Falcon Heavy, an Atlas or Ariane 5, a Delta IV Heavy. If we build structures as minimal as the ISS, which has already clocked in at $150 billion, we're committing to launching one of those very big, very expensive rockets every month. That means either the initial investment needs to be way, way higher to make it more self-sufficient, or we need to incur rather hefty ongoing support costs, with a launch a month of those monsters.
  For what? (Not to mention, who's going to be willing to fund that?)
  For a fraction of the cost we can keep sending rovers. InSight cost $0.8 billion. Curiosity was expensive at $2.5 billion. Even if you swear we can do a Mars outpost for the price of the ISS, which is laughable, we could send 60 Curiosities for that price. Given that we'll get years of service out of that rover, and given that we could build a bunch of them in bulk for a lot less money, that sort of investment makes sending people look silly.
  What makes it even more unlikely is that we'll likely have to send those 60 robotic missions before people anyway, because we're going to need to prep the living site. We need to find and purify water, set up power infrastructure, create habitation, set up the HVAC and air handling. Any one of these things going wrong, which will at minimum take hundreds of billions of dollars, scraps the human mission before it even starts.
  Claiming we could tap this water ice is a fantasy. Mars is poisonous. The dust is, and the water is. We're not going to ever be drilling 4km deep wells on Mars. The expense and engineering it would take to do that would pay for another 60 rovers.
  
  --
  Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
15. Re:Does not matter by hey! · 2019-02-02 12:23 · Score: 1
  
  I think we can get have a credible Mars program in place in ten years, if for some reason the public wanted that.
  I think it would be physically possible -- although just barely -- to land a human on Mars in that timeframe, if cost and risk to that person are no object, which they will be.
  Remember, half of all Mars missions have failed. Mars is hard; much harder than the Moon. The trip is long, requiring years of consumables to be packed and large quantities of fuel to be tankered. There are considerable health problems that a trip to Mars in an Apollo style vehicle would entail. You will likely need a vehicle of unprecedented size to provide radiation protection, supplies storage, and weight simulation.
  
  --
  Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
16. Re:Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 12:28 · Score: 0
  
  Now you've done it. 11010101011 is going to have to post to this thread!
17. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:40 · Score: 1
  
  Baloney! We have the tech to get there. All we need is a stainless steel rocket (and Musk is building it now). Now that we have discovered water, a colony should be simple to setup: a few solar collectors to melt the ice, we can use caves or dig to build housing to protect from the radiation. We can also use a pebble reactor for year round power. The future is here!
18. Re: Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:42 · Score: 2
  
  TOTAL BS. Musk is building a stainless steel rocket that will take us there. All we need to do is scale it up and we can do it today. Just like computers have gotten better, so has space tech. I think we will be there in a couple of years now that we have found a reliable supply of water.
19. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:44 · Score: 1
  
  I am thinking more like 5 years, or 3. You don't realize how low that SpaceX has reduced launch costs. The stainless steel rocket is already in trials (it had a small issue where it fell over in wind), but once it scales up it will be able to take us to Mars.
20. Re: Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:46 · Score: 1
  
  WRONG. Technology only gets better and better. You are probably one of those people who didn't think humans could fly. But now we can. And so you are wrong.
21. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:50 · Score: 1
  
  Elon will be the one leading us to Mars. He is literally our last hope to get off this rock.
22. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:52 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, but we need to get off this rock stuck in a gravity well before an asteroid wipes us out.
23. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:53 · Score: 1
  
  People like you once told us that humans couldn't fly, or couldn't go past the speed of sound, or even colonize America. But we proved that you were wrong, and we will prove that you are wrong again!
24. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:55 · Score: 1
  
  Musk is already building the rocket - that is NO problem. He just needs time and some money to scale it up.
25. Re: Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 14:00 · Score: 1
  
  There is plenty of reasons to go to Mars. The first is to get off this rock stuck in a gravity well so we don't all die when the asteroid hits. Secondly we have always explored. It is people like you who once said we shouldn't go to America. But we did and that is why we are here now.
26. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 14:01 · Score: 1
  
  You probably don't realize that SpaceX has reduced launch costs by about 20%.
27. Re:Does not matter by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 14:08 · Score: 1
  
  You probably said that it was impossible for humans to fly, but here we are, flying.
28. Re:Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 15:25 · Score: 0
  
  You are a total fool with no knowledge of the scientific challenges of humans making a journey to Mars (radiation, supplies, etc.) and the countless problems of keeping humans alive on Mars (toxic soil in addition to the obvious ones like radiation, pressure, ...).
  It might happen this century, but sure as hell not in the next 20 years.
29. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 15:45 · Score: 0
  
  Don't worry, this rock will get you off of it. Guaranteed.
30. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 15:48 · Score: 0
  
  Omw to kill your family and take your stuff in the name of exploration.
31. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 15:55 · Score: 1
  
  Going to Mars with our available technology is like building a plane out of things you have in your house, or sailing to the new world on a ship made out of your house. It's fucking lunacy and it aggravates me to no end that you see yourself as a dreamer and not a fucking twit doing 0 to push the technology or conversation forward. Honestly, I don't see us ever getting to Mars because half of our species are self indulgent fancy-flighted morons that don't understand the task or the limitations.
32. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 17:38 · Score: 1
  
  > They need to be re-discovered and that takes time.
  Yes, but it is still orders of magnitude easier than the initial discovery/invention and proof-of-concept.
  One of the reasons why movies whose plots are "if we kill (or otherwise neutralize) X who knows how to do Y (which everyone now knows can be done), the world is saved" are pretty silly.
33. Re:Does not matter by RockDoctor · 2019-02-02 19:24 · Score: 1
  
  Then as a species, we're fucked.
  Which has been clear for decades.
  
  --
  Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
34. Re: Does not matter by RockDoctor · 2019-02-02 19:28 · Score: 1
  
  I take it you're another member of the (fairly large) class of "people who have never drilled a 4km-deep well in their life". That's a lot of kit. Just the cable is multiple tonnes.
  
  --
  Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
35. Re:Does not matter by RockDoctor · 2019-02-02 19:33 · Score: 1
  
  We are far more likely to be wiped out by your (plural, not just your own) children than by an asteroid, on a foreseeable timescale of a couple of centuries.
  That said, MPML was just seeing some discussion of a possible Earth impactor a couple of months before 2029's Apophis near-miss. Which will get the "sky is falling" crowd running around, screaming.
  
  --
  Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
36. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 19:47 · Score: 0
  
  Yes and no. We can't build a Saturn V anymore. Too much knowledge of the intricacies has been lost. But because rocket technology has advanced, we can build simpler, better and more powerful rockets.
  If our skies had become hopelessly kesslerized and there would be no point in going to space for a hundred years, we'd probably be severely set back in space tech during that time.
  You can document all you want, but some subtle change somewhere in the enormous supply chains may make building to your specs impossible down the line. Your design may for instance rely on the thermal expansion and ablation properties of an inferior alloy nobody knows how to make anymore, because it sucked in retrospect.
37. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 20:05 · Score: 0
  
  Fortunately, the things that drive the more brilliant humans are far grander than "return on investment" in any conventional sense. Learning for learning's sake, going just to prove you can, exploring the unknown because it's there, doing difficult science because it's difficult, and so on. Success is its own reward, and failure the best teacher.
  Money is of course a tool to achieve many such things, but greatness is never achieved by those for whom money is the end goal.
38. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 20:23 · Score: 0
  
  The supply of easy money is much improved. Now it only takes the top cats of a few gigantic companies to do a space race, rather than the collective will of the world's largest nations.
39. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 21:17 · Score: 0
  
  If we get to Mars, we can do work worth a million rovers. The up front expense is huge, but so is the payoff.
40. Re: Does not matter by cjameshuff · 2019-02-03 01:01 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Moon bases are never going to be self-sufficient, they'll always be dependent on importing volatiles that the moon lacks. Mars has everything Earth does...more limited quantities in some cases, but more than enough for a self-sufficient colony's needs.
  It's easier to land payloads on Mars than it is on the moon. While the atmosphere can't brake large vehicles to subsonic speeds, it can still take care of the majority of the entry velocity, which lunar landers must deal with using their landing rockets. Mars missions do have to carry a few months of consumables for the trip in addition to what they'll need on the ground, but that's hardly something that requires 30 years of experience on the moon to achieve.
41. Re: Does not matter by cjameshuff · 2019-02-03 01:57 · Score: 1
  
  So you'll want a vehicle capable of landing a hundred tonnes or so of payload at a time. If only someone were working on such a thing...
  Also note the water's 4 km below the Mars equivalent of "sea level", not below the surface. Much of the actual surface actually cuts into this layer.
42. Re:Does not matter by hey! · 2019-02-03 03:00 · Score: 1
  
  A rocket is the easy part.
  
  --
  Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
43. Re:Does not matter by tomhath · 2019-02-03 03:32 · Score: 1
  
  Your should take a vacation to Antarctica for a couple of years. It's a tropical paradise compared to Mars.
44. Re: Does not matter by Gavagai80 · 2019-02-03 05:36 · Score: 1
  
  A pair of Falcon Heavy launches are easily capable of sending people to the moon and returning them to Earth. The only thing lacking is a willingness to accept the risk.
  
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  This space intentionally left blank
45. Re:Does not matter by Gavagai80 · 2019-02-03 05:48 · Score: 1
  
  The BFR will likely get to Mars within 10 years, but you vastly underestimate the technical and especially the non-technical problems of getting approval to send humans. The Falcon 9 has been flying for 9 years, and we'll be lucky if the first human flies on it this year. Approval for all the additional dangers of a Mars flight (time, radiation, different flight profiles, etc) will require many, many unmanned Mars flights... and those flights are limited to happening every ~2 years when then planets are close. Getting approval for humans to actually live on Mars will be even harder to achieve.
  
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  This space intentionally left blank
46. Re: Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:23 · Score: 1
  
  It does not. That is an illusion. There are many things we cannot make anymore because we have lost the knowledge to do so. This is rarely discussed publicly, but one place were you hear it occasionally is that if you have not built a nuclear power station for a few decades, it gets extremely hard to do it again.
  
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47. Re: Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:24 · Score: 1
  
  And if you think that the _engine_ part is all that it takes, you are missing 99% of the problem. Thinking that things are simple is easy when you do not see most of the problem.
  
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48. Re: Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  You do realize that a working colony would require about 20'000 people (if carefully selected) and that it need to be self-sustaining in a harsh environment? We may be there in a few hundred years, but not much earlier.
  
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49. Re:Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:31 · Score: 1
  
  I would not. There were flying animals for a long time, so there is reason to believe it is possible. However, say, 2000 years ago, I would have been one of those saying "not anytime soon" and you would have said "in 10 years". There is a difference between "impossible" and "not anytime soon" and you are currently ignoring that for an utterly cheap shot. I get it that you are excited and I am the one with the bucket of cold water. But switching off your intelligence and being a mindless fanboi instead just disgraces you.
  
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50. Re:Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:35 · Score: 1
  
  No, we did not. You seem to be unaware how extremely much effort went into these stunts back then. And there is a bit more to colonizing something than just to get there.
  
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  Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
51. Re:Does not matter by gweihir · 2019-02-03 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  We do not. You let enthusiasm blind you. Water 4km down is irrelevant, unless you are prepared to ship a few 1000t of drilling rig and a few 10'000t of support equipment.
  
  --
  Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
52. Re: Does not matter by mentil · 2019-02-03 09:48 · Score: 1
  
  Why exactly would it require 20,000 people? If it were fully-automated, it'd have no minimum inhabitant requirement.
  
  --
  Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
53. Re: Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-03 12:59 · Score: 0
  
  He does indeed.
54. Re:Does not matter by Namarrgon · 2019-02-03 13:08 · Score: 1
  
  I suppose the difference is that there exist people with specific, detailed, and active plans to get to Mars, who are showing genuine progress and have already demonstrated their ability to execute on such ground-breaking plans. They believe they will succeed, which is of course no guarantee, but neither is there grounds for your flat dismissal.
  The onus is on you to point out the flaw in their plans - something they (with their much greater subject knowledge) overlooked. Something more specific than "it's harder than you think".
  
  --
  Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
55. Re:Does not matter by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-03 13:12 · Score: 0
  
  (Just FYI, you might want to read GP's post history before taking their statements at face value)
56. Re: Does not matter by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2019-02-03 17:32 · Score: 1
  
  Exactly, robots don't suffer from genetic bottlenecks.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
57. Re: Does not matter by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2019-02-03 17:33 · Score: 1
  
  You are aware that he's trolling you?
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
58. Re:Does not matter by K.+S.+Kyosuke · 2019-02-03 17:37 · Score: 1
  
  If we build structures as minimal as the ISS, which has already clocked in at $150 billion, we're committing to launching one of those very big, very expensive rockets every month. That means either the initial investment needs to be way, way higher to make it more self-sufficient, or we need to incur rather hefty ongoing support costs, with a launch a month of those monsters.
  If you used the SLS for that, you'd be right. Just like it was a bad idea to use a $1.2-billion-per-launch vehicle for launching ~15-tonne modules to the ISS when Russians could launch 20 tonne ones for $100 million apiece. But that's more of a political matter than a matter of technical necessity.
  
  --
  Ezekiel 23:20
59. Re:Does not matter by painandgreed · 2019-02-05 06:01 · Score: 1
  
  A rocket is the easy part.
  True enough. Nobody is even thinking about long term space habitats, the composite shielding that will be needed, more reliable and efficient water, food, and atmosphere systems, fuel generation on Mars, or many of the other tech that will need to be developed to make that trip. We're still about two years out from getting the BFR into space. There will be time to refine to its equivilant of Black 5, as well as testing for landing and take off again from Mars that will happen after we have Mars side re-fueling worked out. But really, this can all be seen in that nobody is spending any real money on getting to Mars. Musk, in all his optimism still expects a Mars mission to cost around $200 billion. Until we see somebody willign to pay $20/year to go to Mars for the next decade, nobody is even trying to get there in ten years (let alone to find out they can't). NASA already told Trump they can't get to Mars in 8 years with unlimited funds, and I doubt that the extra two years would make a difference.
gweihir = fake name massive human fail by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 10:07 · Score: -1

See subject: Your MASSIVE FAIL in this life is you're nothing more than a chattering little do-nothing "ne'er-do-well" online & you know it...
* Is that the best your "phantasyland FAKE NAME" (for your fake lie of a so-called 'life') can manage?
When a FAKE NAME do nothing like YOU does better than I have? Then talk (you're all talk & no action)...
You can't help you're an immature little BUTTHURT no-mind, lol! I blew you away in TONS OF PLACES and easily dust your no-mind bullshit blatherings.
APK
P.S.=> The TRUE PRICE of your UNIDENTIFIABLE FAKE NAME do-nothing selves like you that I can ALWAYS CASH IN ON (lol) is that I can use FACT/TRUTH on them to SHATTER their all TOO fragile delusional egos that they actually know A DAMN THING in computing, lol... apk
1. Re:gweihir = fake name massive human fail by gweihir · 2019-02-02 11:07 · Score: 0
  
  Dear fuckup, I know you are not APK, but you seem to be too dumb to realize not everybody is on your level of mental deficiency.
  
  --
  Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Where is it? by AndyKron · 2019-02-02 11:12 · Score: 1

I will only drink RAW Mars water. Raw water contains tasty minerals and perchlorates that could have health benefits. The statements in this post have not been evaluated by the FDA. No medical claims are made or implied of any kind.
1. Re:Where is it? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 11:53 · Score: 0
  
  Nestle is already inventing longer straws for Mars.
A Boring Answer by wolfheart111 · 2019-02-02 12:01 · Score: 1

Yawnn... shouldn't be a prob.

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[($)]
Doesn't seem like a big challenge. by SuperKendall · 2019-02-02 12:04 · Score: 0

The digging is with in the realm of possibility... having the equipment onsite is admittedly a challenge...
Considering the entire planet is a huge supply of iron oxide, you can simply set up a facility to extract iron and produce as many drill shafts as you need. You'd only need to bring a bunch of drill heads and some of the surface machinery to Mars as those would be a lot harder to produce than the drill shafts (though eventually you'd be able to produce those on Mars as well).

--
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
1. Re: Doesn't seem like a big challenge. by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 12:23 · Score: 0
  
  If pure gold bars were sitting on the surface of Mars, it would be financially impossible to go get them.
2. Re:Doesn't seem like a big challenge. by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:49 · Score: 2
  
  Exactly what I was thinking! You just SIMPLY setup a facility on Mars to extract iron from the planet and produce as many as you need. You just need to bring along some stuff, and SpaceX has low-cost reusable rockets which can be used for that.
Then get the salt out of the water by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 12:15 · Score: 0

It's going to be saltier and more toxic than seawater and not much use for anything except causing corrosion.
Mars is not a nice place. Yes we'll probably be stupid enough to send people there. People surviving there no.
Antarctica is a lot warmer than Mars has usable water and a breathable atmosphere and that's not survivable without a lot of outside support.
1. Re:Then get the salt out of the water by 110010001000 · 2019-02-02 13:45 · Score: 1
  
  That isn't a problem. Ever heard of a desalinization plant??? That tech has been around for decades.
IMPERSONATING me AGAIN? apk by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 13:55 · Score: 0

MacOS model's NOT done yet so you can STOP IMPERSONATING me on /.! Proof portfilter err = stopped by my work https://news.slashdot.org/comm...
* IMITATING me as you do proves you WISH you were ME though!
APK
P.S.=> Hopefully, this 'sinks in' to your DULL BRAIN @ last, finally (for the 100th time now)... apk
RoTfLmAo - Thanks gweihir... apk by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 14:01 · Score: 0

See subject & thanks for the BEST laugh I've had all week on that reply of yours to one of your "DEFICIENTS" (love that one) & he's IMPERSONATING me too (saying I have a MacOS build ready & I don't & this is my "std. reply" to his dim-brained ass https://science.slashdot.org/c... )
* It truly makes me WONDER how dildos like the fool trying to "stir you up" against me (& others like raymorris + SuperKendall too) live w/ themselves as such TOTAL LOSERS!
APK
P.S.=> I suppose when you WASTE YOUR LIFE like the "deficients" (lol, you ought to patent that one) do, that's all you've got is being a NO-GOOD DO-NOTHING f'ing "ne'er-do-well" like their kind, really is... apk
THERE ARE ALWAYS CONSEQUENCES NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 15:46 · Score: -1

THERE WILL ALWAYS BE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR LIES AND PROPAGANDA NAZI FAGGOT KEN DOLL UNTIL YOU DIE.
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING
Fresh water? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-02 18:41 · Score: 0

Is that water fresh water or salt water? On Earth rain dissolved most of the water-soluble salts and transported them to the sea but on Mars there is no rain and no sea, at least today.
So would that ice be fresh water ice or salt water ice?
Surprised by nospam007 · 2019-02-02 21:57 · Score: 1

"Robert Zimmerman adds that "The evidence suggests that this deep groundwater water table (as ice) almost certainly still exists at all latitudes, though almost entirely underground... "
Bob Dylan seems to know this stuff.
Fucking scientist by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-03 02:21 · Score: 0

I don't believe this any more than I believe the world is round. Untill I actually set foot on mars and see the aquifirs, I will believe this is a conspiracy by the global elite, Nancy pelosi, and scientist to keep me from doing my own thinking and exploration.
Yay now all we need for a full grown oak tree by Anonymous Coward · 2019-02-03 02:45 · Score: 0

Is tons of soil and nutrients brought to Mars. For one tree. How easy is it to bring 3 tons of stuff to just drop off on a planet? I assume it's super easy because I'm an idiot