BREAKING NEWS! Water is wet........on MARS!
Hey Steemians & particularly SteemGeeks,
It looks like you could break out the bikini or the pair of board shorts, well under your space suit that is, as scientists discover an actual liquid presence of water on or rather close to the surface of Mars. Ok, that's all I wanted to say, post over, upvote and resteem please, you can go now!
If you're still reading then you really are a space enthusiast like myself. Ever since the launch of the Falcon Heavy my interest in Mars and space exploration has turned into a little bit more than that, a level below obsession if you will. Knowing that we're the first generation to be actively working on interplanetary travel and could realise it within our lifetime is would be a monumental achievement.
While most of the media attention, money and time is being focused on how we get ourselves there, stay safe on Mars and find a way back not much is being said about what we will actually encounter once we get there.
Artistic impression of the Mars Express spacecraft probing the southern hemisphere of Mars.DAVIDE COERO BORGA/ESA/INAF
Photo: Wired
Researchers have long since believed that there was water on Mars with the way creators are formed and with the planet filled with valleys and basins made from rivers that have long since run dry due to the planet's atmosphere. Which means water is either found in a gaseous or solid state with liquid water only found during the Martin summers on some areas of the planet but with deposit few and far between this was only speculation.
What exactly did they find, how and where did they find the water?
The search for a big, enduring reservoir of wet, potentially life-giving H20 has turned up nothing. Until Wednesday when researchers at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, detected signs of a large, stable body of liquid water locked away beneath a mile of ice near Mars' south pole.
They have found what appears to be a 20-kilometre-wide subsurface "lake" near Mars's south pole has been detected by the MARSIS ground-penetrating radar instrument on the Mars Express spacecraft. This discovery really qualifies this as a body of water. A lake, not some kind of meltwater filling some space between rock and ice, as happens in certain glaciers on Earth.
What does this discovery mean?
Well, we all know the life-giving properties or water and from our understanding of biology based on our planet, that's how life began, from our oceans. Water and liquid water opens up new possibilities for astrobiologists to explore and perhaps find our first evidence of extraterrestrial life, now wouldn't that be a trip?
The curveball is that water's temperature and chemistry could also pose a problem for any potential martian organisms. In order to remain liquid in such cold conditions (the research team estimate between -10 and -30 Celsius where it meets the ice above), the water likely has a great many salts dissolved in it. Which isn't sustainable for any kind of life we know, but we're not looking for life that we know of right? Secondly, this is only based on the surface or the planet, water has no sense of boundaries and will travel as far as it can and this is where we get to the interesting part.
The search continues
As liquid water flows into the subsurface of the planet it could find homes away from the harsh atmosphere and create little pocket environments for life, but we won't know that for sure until we get there. So thats why a spacecraft called the InSight Mars lander, was launched in May and will dig under the planet's surface after it lands in November.
What next?
Maybe this could even be the trigger for an ambitious new Mars mission to drill into this buried water-pocket - like has been done for sub-glacial lakes in Antarctica on Earth. Having a precious resource like water available to us on Mars would go a long way for Elon's colonisation efforts come 2020!
Have your say
What do you think of travelling to Mars? Is it something we will achieve in our lifetime? Is it a project we should be focusing on? Do you think we can become an interplanetary species? Let me know in the comments!
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This post has received a 1.47 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @chekohler.
I think they know this a long time ago... but why they come out what this now?
Yes they knew there was water for some time now but from what I read this is the first large mass of water that's worth getting excited about. Since its liquid throughout the year, it means it has the possibility to flow and who knows where it leads from or leads too. Its more the possibility of is this it or the tip of a massive reservoir of water on the planet? Could this be the key to discovering life in the subsurface, well thats what gets me pretty excited
ok..ok.. :) we see soon.