NASA Finds Evidence of "Soaking Wet" Mars with Rover

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around recent findings from NASA's Mars rovers, which suggest that Mars was once "soaking wet." Participants explore the implications of this discovery, including the fate of the water and potential evidence for past life on Mars. The conversation includes speculative theories about the planet's geological history and the conditions that may have led to the loss of water.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants speculate on the fate of the water, suggesting possibilities such as underground lakes, absorption into rocks, or loss to space through evaporation and hydrolysis.
  • One participant mentions the discovery of sulfates, which could provide evidence for past life in future missions.
  • Another participant proposes that catastrophic events, such as volcanic activity or asteroid impacts, may have destabilized the Martian environment, potentially linking the iron core with water and affecting the planet's geology.
  • There is a suggestion that permafrost may exist on Mars, particularly at higher latitudes, with varying depths and implications for the planet's water history.
  • A reference to William K. Hartmann's work is made to support claims about the distribution of water and permafrost on Mars.
  • One participant brings up the Drake equation and its variables, suggesting a need for updates in light of the new findings.
  • Another participant references the book "Rare Earth" by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee, indicating its relevance to the discussion of extraterrestrial life and planetary conditions.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of speculative ideas regarding the implications of the findings, with no clear consensus on the fate of the water or the geological history of Mars. Multiple competing views remain regarding the conditions that may have existed on the planet.

Contextual Notes

Some claims rely on specific assumptions about Martian geology and the interpretation of data from the rovers, which may not be universally accepted or verified. The discussion includes references to external sources that may influence the understanding of the topic.

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It will be interesting to see speculation about what happened to the water. Underground lakes? Absorbed into rocks? Evaporated, hydrolyzed and lost to space?

Njorl
 
I watched the webcast, they said they've also found sulfates that could be examined by a later mission to finding fairly definite proof of past life.
 
Woohoo!
 
Originally posted by Njorl
It will be interesting to see speculation about what happened to the water. Underground lakes? Absorbed into rocks? Evaporated, hydrolyzed and lost to space?

Njorl

Perhaps the environment became unstable due to catastraphic activities, (E.G. volcanoes, asteriod bombardment, Texan-equivalant of Mars elected to presidential office, et cetera.) and the iron core melded with the water. Maybe Valles Marineris might have been a bridge between the core and the oceanic crust. A crust-core link would cool down the planet, leave carbon-based gas emissions, and cause iron oxide to form throughout the planet's soil.

I suppose this will encourage both robotic and crewed missions to our mysterious neighbour.
 
Originally posted by Njorl
It will be interesting to see speculation about what happened to the water. Underground lakes? Absorbed into rocks? Evaporated, hydrolyzed and lost to space?
The most likely is permafrost, which is at, or close to, the surface pole-ward of ~60o to ~80o, and is increasingly deep at lower latitudes. How deep is the permafrost? The top ~200m is dry ('ice free'), with permafront at ~450m at equatorial latitudes. How do we know this? Rampart craters - their distribution by depth and latitude [Hartmann*, p100].

A lot of water was lost to space, and some is certainly hydrolysed.


*William K. Hartmann "A Traveler's Guide to Mars"

[Edit: checked Hartmann re permafrost, edited appropriately]
 
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Please update your estimates for Drake's variables.
 
Ward and Brownlee

Anyone read Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee's "Rare Earth"?

Very interesting, especially http://www.aip.org/pt/vol-53/iss-9/p62.html .

Oh, and it takes a somewhat different look at the Drake equation ...
 
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