The Water Under Mars Report!

[Gene Steinberg]

So now we see that water might still exist under the surface of Mars?

And?

Scientists believe there might be liquid water just below the surface of Mars | Blastr

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

What else Gene

 

[Decker]

This is what I've never understood about NASA! They have been running "under a shoestring" dollar wise for decades! Everytime Congress wants to slash any budget to "SAVE MONEY" NASA is the go-to place to cut a budget ... but yet they refuse to do any damned thing for themselves.

Over 10 to about 15 years ago, back when I was still doing some radio shows with Dwight Schultz .. he had a neighbor that lived just down the street from him that was a scientist at JPL, the Mars Guys. This guy told Schultz privately that the JPL Mars guys HAD ALREADY discovered water there ... but they REFUSED to announce it. Had they done so, who knows how much they might have gained in additional funding. They sat on it! Same thing with the Mars meteor found that seemed to show fossilized microbes in the rock ... wanted to sit on it. John Brandenburg had some very interesting remarks about these guys on his last appearance on Dark Matters Radio. Some things just seem to defy explanation.

Decker

 

[pixelsmith]

This is what I've never understood about NASA! They have been running "under a shoestring" dollar wise for decades! Everytime Congress wants to slash any budget to "SAVE MONEY" NASA is the go-to place to cut a budget ... but yet they refuse to do any damned thing for themselves.

Over 10 to about 15 years ago, back when I was still doing some radio shows with Dwight Schultz .. he had a neighbor that lived just down the street from him that was a scientist at JPL, the Mars Guys. This guy told Schultz privately that the JPL Mars guys HAD ALREADY discovered water there ... but they REFUSED to announce it. Had they done so, who knows how much they might have gained in additional funding. They sat on it! Same thing with the Mars meteor found that seemed to show fossilized microbes in the rock ... wanted to sit on it. John Brandenburg had some very interesting remarks about these guys on his last appearance on Dark Matters Radio. Some things just seem to defy explanation.

Decker

NASA should get out of the climate business and focus on space exploration.

 

[Crazy Old Lady]

Recently, a NASA affiliated scientist said that she believed that we would find evidence of extraterrestrial life with 10 years. Going by NASA's current itinerary, does that mean they already have?

 

[Decker]

Recently, a NASA affiliated scientist said that she believed that we would find evidence of extraterrestrial life with 10 years. Going by NASA's current itinerary, does that mean they already have?

Well when they say they think they will discover life, what they REALLY mean is microbial life, not sentient E.T. life. You really gotta watch what, and how they phrase it. Actually I think the idea of discovering actual sentient life scares the hell outta them.

Decker

 

[withoutlimits09]

Surfing on Mars by 2050!

 

[Crazy Old Lady]

I agree, Decker; I thought they meant microbial life, too. I doubt that they would acknowledge larger sentient life unless they were forced to. For the record, I have no idea if there is other, larger sentient life out there or not.

 

[Decker]

I agree, Decker; For the record, I have no idea if there is other, larger sentient life out there or not.

Of course ... who does?

Decker

 

[Crazy Old Lady]

Well, if we consider the history of ufology, I guess rather a lot of folks...
However, I think it's very interesting that there is still water on Mars. I've always been fascinated by the idea of terraforming a planet. The idea has been kicking around for years, and while it won't happen in my lifetime, it's cool that with the right technology and the determination of the human spirit, it could happen sometime. I think our species will have to get off-planet eventually. Water is a good start, and it seems to be rather prevalent in our solar system.

 

[Tyger]

Mars has belts of glaciers composed of water ice - Posted on 8 April 2015
Mars has belts of glaciers composed of water ice | Astronomy Now

TEXT: "Mars has distinct polar ice caps, but Mars also has belts of glaciers at its central latitudes in both the southern and northern hemispheres. A thick layer of dust covers the glaciers, so they appear as surface of the ground, but radar measurements show that underneath the dust there are glaciers composed of frozen water. New studies have now calculated the size of the glaciers and thus the amount of water in the glaciers. It is the equivalent of all of Mars being covered by more than one metre of ice. The results are published in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters."

 

[Crazy Old Lady]

Thank you, Tyger. If those glaciers are as prevalent as the indicated in the text you mentioned above, I'm thinking that it would account for some pretty impressive lakes; as glaciers, as I understand them, are fresh water. Lovely lakes with the beginnings of forests at their shores; water to rehydrate an arid planet; we could, in a few centuries of extraordinarily hard work and with technology of a monumental sort, make ourselves a new place to live. Or perhaps an old one, if you credit some theories...

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Don,
Not just them maybe Chinese and Russians?

 

[Trajanus]

Thank you, Tyger. If those glaciers are as prevalent as the indicated in the text you mentioned above, I'm thinking that it would account for some pretty impressive lakes; as glaciers, as I understand them, are fresh water. Lovely lakes with the beginnings of forests at their shores; water to rehydrate an arid planet; we could, in a few centuries of extraordinarily hard work and with technology of a monumental sort, make ourselves a new place to live. Or perhaps an old one, if you credit some theories...

I don't know if terraforming Mars will ever be feasible. Even if the planet can be made warm enough for liquid water, planting forests might set the effort back to square one. Soaking up atmospheric carbon to create biomass would reduce the greenhouse effect while transpiration (or just melting/sublimation of water) would cause more clouds, increasing planetary albedo...Mars may be a lost cause. I've long felt the $ invested in it would be better spent on missions like Kepler.

 

[Crazy Old Lady]

Good points, all. Still, the Romantic in me would like to see us move beyond our planet; if not to Mars, than to elsewhere. The human spirit has always been at its most shining in its quest for exploration and knowledge of other places. We're noting if not adaptable. We must grow; though hopefully, without the disastrous colonialism we've demonstrated in the past. One would hope that cultural maturity would finally keep pace with technological growth - this time. A vain hope perhaps, but mine.

 

[Trajanus]

Good points, all. Still, the Romantic in me would like to see us move beyond our planet; if not to Mars, than to elsewhere.

Assuming other good places haven't already been taken. Of course I'm all for expansion into space, to the degree it's possible. Maybe Venus can be terraformed someday. It would be real tough but at least it has more solar energy and more earthlike gravity.