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Mars rover finds first evidence of water - a river of it

39 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/mars-rover-finds-first-evidence-of-water-a-river-of-it.163959/

root.king
root.king Original post #1
Sep 28, 2012 at 8:18 AM
Mars rover finds
first evidence of
water - a river of it
NASA's Mars rover,
Curiosity, dispatched
to learn if the most
Earth-like planet in
the solar system was
suitable for microbial
life, has found clear
evidence its landing
site was once awash
in water, a key
ingredient for life,
scientists said
Thursday.
SOURCE:
Rover finds evidence of ancient water on Mars - CNN.com

www.in.mobile.reuters.com/article/idINDEE88Q0IZ20120927?irpc=932
S
Sep 28, 2012 at 9:36 AM
^^ Feels like reading a poem ;D
Flash
Flash #3
Sep 28, 2012 at 5:25 PM
John carter should be very happy! :D
rider
rider #4
Sep 28, 2012 at 5:35 PM
great news! :)
audiophilic
Sep 29, 2012 at 9:32 PM
The water is in the soil, and its solid because its in compressed form. This is dead water. They should heat the atmosphere and rehabilitate the planet to see if it rains over there as much as it does here.
T
Tech&ME #7
Sep 30, 2012 at 12:01 AM
No rain on Mars, the water or river whatever it is, is just frozen.

Climatic conditions were good for survival at one time, but it seems atmosphere of Mars has gone into massive climatic changes.

The whole planet looks yellowish and bluewish at night.
Ankit Omar
Oct 15, 2012 at 11:40 AM
I wish NASA could achieve their goal on Mars and this news seems to be the biggest support for them. I have seen the photographs revealed by NASA and it was remarkable!
doomgiver
Oct 15, 2012 at 8:30 PM
it had water at one point.... now its all gone, or frozen. what life it supported, its long dead.

why doesnt NASA focus more on better "life bearing" candidates? like Io, or Titan, even Europa.
dead planets tell no tales. except fables, maybe.
jayantr7
jayantr7 #10
Oct 16, 2012 at 7:41 PM
it had water at one point.... now its all gone, or frozen. what life it supported, its long dead.

why doesnt NASA focus more on better "life bearing" candidates? like Io, or Titan, even Europa.
dead planets tell no tales. except fables, maybe.
Well my friend, you're mistaken. First, NASA doesn't send probes on planetary bodies for fun, they do serious work. They can send probes to Io and Titan, but it will not avail much needed information to satisfy the money invested upon it. NASA is at the frontier of human space technology, but they also know that our technological abilities are not advanced enough now to do what they actually need to. Mars landings and explorations are important, because they provide us with better tech testing grounds. To accomplish Mars missions, they had to develop new technologies, which in a long time stretch will help in future missions. Second, we don't know much about those moons and it's not easy to go there and do other works on it with current technologies. Third, it needs very high budget, and if you'd see the budget cuts of NASA, you'd get a glimpse of the problem. Fourth, present your question to a NASA engineer or search for questions and answers of these, or ask an expert, and they'll give you the best explanation against your argument.

All of the water that was there on Mars is not gone. It has not been proved as a dead planet yet, and there are chances that there might be simple organic or other form of life there. Humans know just about a few parts of the planet, and there can be life on polar regions or beneath the surface of Mars.
RCuber
RCuber #11
Oct 16, 2012 at 7:58 PM
Water on Mars
*apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0504/WaterOnMars2_gcc_big.jpg
doomgiver
doomgiver #12
Oct 16, 2012 at 8:59 PM
^^^ NOOOOOO!!!

you will ruin Mars!!
it will get all squishy and round near the equator and flat near the poles.... oh wait, its rotation does that very same thing..
Anish
Anish #13
Oct 16, 2012 at 9:33 PM
Better they first digup the earth and explore it :nanananana:
Flash
Flash #15
Oct 16, 2012 at 10:57 PM
*static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/10/1/1349079449513/ESACraterIce.png

The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft found this patch of water ice in an unnamed crater on Mars in 2005. Photograph: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

They've founded the Ice in 2005 itself.
Curiosity is just an affirmation to that point.
dan4u
dan4u #16
Oct 16, 2012 at 11:38 PM
^^ hmmm, so why couldn't they send a rover there?? it would have been much more interesting than the rocks we see usually.....
Hrishi
Hrishi #17
Oct 17, 2012 at 3:57 AM
If there was water on mars , its likely that there was some sort of life on the planet. Since , along with water , MARS must have possesed an atmosphere and required gaseous substances.
doomgiver
doomgiver #18
Oct 17, 2012 at 4:23 AM
If there was water on mars , its likely that there was some sort of life on the planet. Since , along with water , MARS must have possesed an atmosphere and required gaseous substances.
wow..... thats very deep.
so, according to you, water is the necessary and sufficient condition for life? comets have shittons of water... europa has shittons of water... hell, uranus and neptune each have more water than a hundred earths combined, but i dont see any life on them...
Hrishi
Hrishi #19
Oct 17, 2012 at 5:57 AM
wow..... thats very deep.
so, according to you, water is the necessary and sufficient condition for life? comets have shittons of water... europa has shittons of water... hell, uranus and neptune each have more water than a hundred earths combined, but i dont see any life on them...

Well I was speculating.Anyways Uranus , neptune are distant planets from Sun so we may not expect the sort of life-form we are looking for.And you don't see any life there becuase , you haven't been there and completely searched the planet. Have you , haha ??
Humans haven't explored Uranus or Neptune completely till now.So you can't say they don't have any sort of life form(in past/future/present) , there is always a possibility.

And If there was water on MARS(in liquid state) ,balanced atmosphere was sort of necessary to hold it in that state.
Also water is a necessity for sustaining life form similiar to our own.With adequate amount of pH value, mineral content , etc.

Btw , who said that water alone is sufficient for known-life-form to exist , atleast I Didn't ??? SOil , Climate, temperature , atmosphere, and a lot other factors play a major role.
I was talking specifically about MARS , since it has many other similiar features alongwith traces of WATER. Maybe you should think think deeply on that.

BTW , I read in above posts that you don't like to read about fables of dead planets(or history ) , so please stay away from my comments , since they might talk about fables itself and might hurt your sentiments . :p
And hating history isn't such a good idea Sir.

Maybe someday they will across fossils. : p haha

All of the water that was there on Mars is not gone. It has not been proved as a dead planet yet, and there are chances that there might be simple organic or other form of life there. Humans know just about a few parts of the planet, and there can be life on polar regions or beneath the surface of Mars.

Agree with you.We barely have enough information to deny the existence of life.THere is a good possibility of microbial life forms below the surface.

However the question that scratches my brain a lot is that { if there was life on mars , something very sudden and tragic might have happened to force complete extinction }If the change was slow, species should have evolved themselves.

^^ hmmm, so why couldn't they send a rover there?? it would have been much more interesting than the rocks we see usually.....


Maybe they'll a few of them later on send but not now. :)
I think those rocks help in understanding and analysing lots of information about the past , and thats why they sent it. THey want to study the past.!!!

The texture,content and details of rocks and soils , help a lot in determining what happened previously. I think the rover has several sensors and devices that provide intricate and detailed information about the composition of rocks.
Flash
Flash #20
Oct 17, 2012 at 10:54 AM
We humans are well-versed in our invented technologies! None would've thought we will be flying in air one day - But eventually Wright brothers or someone laid foundation with a parachute.

Whatif we don't have the capacity/technology to detect alien life forms?
Isnt that interesting?
Hrishi
Hrishi #21
Oct 17, 2012 at 11:07 AM
We humans are well-versed in our invented technologies! None would've thought we will be flying in air one day - But eventually Wright brothers or someone laid foundation with a parachute.

Whatif we don't have the capacity/technology to detect alien life forms?
Isnt that interesting?
We will never know about that. Sort of riddle in one way. ..haha
doomgiver
doomgiver #22
Oct 17, 2012 at 5:44 PM
Anyways Uranus , neptune are distant planets from Sun so we may not expect the sort of life-form we are looking for.And you don't see any life there becuase , you haven't been there and completely searched the planet. Have you , haha ??


we are a carbon based life form, that means, carbon forms the most important part of our bodies.
now imagine a creature formed of chlorine, silicon, methane. oxygen would be deadly to it. water would just dissolve its structure (like acids do to us). it would prolly look like a cross between a tortoise and a rock. how would you know its "life"?
Interstellar travel takes a lot of time, but you know, there could be ways to overcome that problem. long living species comes to my mind... cryogenic freezing, bending the laws of physics.. etc.

Humans haven't explored Uranus or Neptune completely till now.So you can't say they don't have any sort of life form(in past/future/present) , there is always a possibility.

And If there was water on MARS(in liquid state) ,balanced atmosphere was sort of necessary to hold it in that state.
Also water is a necessity for sustaining life form similiar to our own.With adequate amount of pH value, mineral content , etc.
what balance? you can have water in a world with atmosphere made of noble gases, nitrates, cyanides, etc, its not gonna affect the "balance" in any way.


Btw , who said that water alone is sufficient for known-life-form to exist , atleast I Didn't ??? SOil , Climate, temperature , atmosphere, and a lot other factors play a major role.
I was talking specifically about MARS , since it has many other similiar features alongwith traces of WATER. Maybe you should think think deeply on that.

you were the one who was making dubious assumptions about conditions on mars. nope, neither soil, nor climate are anyway related to finding life. you can find life in arid tundras and hot deserts............


BTW , I read in above posts that you don't like to read about fables of dead planets(or history ) , so please stay away from my comments , since they might talk about fables itself and might hurt your sentiments . :p
And hating history isn't such a good idea Sir.
hate history??


Maybe someday they will across fossils. : p haha


However the question that scratches my brain a lot is that { if there was life on mars , something very sudden and tragic might have happened to force complete extinction }If the change was slow, species should have evolved themselves.
i dont think you quite understand what you are saying.
you make wild assumptions which are nowhere supported by citations or examples.
you trash the very foundations of good honest science to just mishmash something you pulled outta your bum a few moments ago.... thats not the way to do it, dude.

also, inb4 mashing up my comments to take them out of context and using them in the wrong way to do...... *something* (i have no idea what, i stopped trying to understand your posts after the 3rd try)
Faun
Faun #23
Oct 17, 2012 at 5:47 PM
a form based on gold will be hunted by humans and vice versa. Imagine :wink:
doomgiver
doomgiver #24
Oct 17, 2012 at 5:49 PM
We humans are well-versed in our invented technologies! None would've thought we will be flying in air one day - But eventually Wright brothers or someone laid foundation with a parachute.

Whatif we don't have the capacity/technology to detect alien life forms?
Isnt that interesting?

yeah, its like a blind man trying to find a white marble from a room filled with thousands of black marbles, using just his touch.
Flash
Flash #25
Oct 17, 2012 at 8:48 PM
^ Thats an apt comparison.
Soumik
Soumik #26
Oct 18, 2012 at 9:31 PM
You guys know why humans bodies are majorly made of water? Even i dont know :p.
But there is a reason for believing that there can be life where there is water. But that water has to exist in all 3 of its natural forms. Solid liquid and gas. That indicates that there is a moving cycle of events happening there. The only planets capable of sustaining that naturally were Venus, Earth and Mars. Venus is basically hell becuase of its acidic/extreme greenhouse atmosphere. Earth sustains life. Mars was too small to hold a substantial atmosphere but the main reason its atmosphere is gone, is because of bombardmnet of comets and space debis(or something similar.. forgot now :p). Scientists have found enough evidence that Mars was once a planet very much like what earth is now, before its atmosphere got stripped off. And there are large underground caves near the surface of the planet, from where they have discovered H2S gas emissions (something found in microbials and orgnisms living in volcanic caves and craters). So, they have enough reasons to go there and check. If they can somehow research and regenerate the Martian atmosphere, atleast in some clusters, its very like to be habitable for humans.
We simply dont have the tech to go farther right now with the kind of equipment that we sent to mars. So, mars is the limit for now, but its a bright start. Europa is the only other planetary body where a substance (Methane) exists in all 3 natural forms and there is a very stable atmosphere. Its more than likely that there are methane based life forms on Eupora, but we dont have the tech to go in search of them right now.
All this i saw and learnt in some science documentaries.. so its from my memory and not from knowledge. Please dont hold anything against me :p
doomgiver
doomgiver #27
Oct 18, 2012 at 10:13 PM
^^ its good, except for the fact that H2S is made just be biological means.... volcanic activity too produces large amounts of H2S
Soumik
Soumik #28
Oct 19, 2012 at 3:16 AM
Oh sorry. My bad. Its methane again. I saw them some time back.. and dont remember the stuff properly. Methane emissions were found on Mars, just googled it. And the moon i was talking about was Titan, not Europa. :)
Nerevarine
Dec 28, 2012 at 7:39 PM
damn its about time, we send prison ships to the koprulu sector ;)
doomgiver
doomgiver #30
Dec 28, 2012 at 7:46 PM
OMG!!! ITS A NECROMANCER!!!

(at least look at the time before posting)
Harsh Pranami
Dec 29, 2012 at 1:01 AM
What??? Only ice?? What abt petrol??
doomgiver
doomgiver #32
Dec 29, 2012 at 3:41 PM
fvck.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!!!

LOCK THE THREADS!!!

THE NECROMANCERS HAVE ARRIVED!!!
freshseasons
Dec 29, 2012 at 11:56 PM
OMG!!! ITS A NECROMANCER!!!

(at least look at the time before posting)
fvck.

BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!!!

LOCK THE THREADS!!!

THE NECROMANCERS HAVE ARRIVED!!!

I totally agree with you. How dare he bump up a post which was hmm one and half month old. After all doesn't a thread die in a month or so. Even if takes 9 to 10 months for rover to reach mars and much more time perhaps years for science to discover things. We should by this time make a new thread every week and close all the old ones preferably.


Afterall haven't the verdict being reached and closed ,there is nothing further to explore in this topic or science to give..err this month perhaps.
theserpent
Dec 30, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Why you bump threads?
A
Dec 30, 2012 at 11:39 AM
Maybe just because he wants to increase his post count.. :banghead:
Faun
Faun #36
Dec 30, 2012 at 2:31 PM
he seems to be new to the internet.
doomgiver
doomgiver #37
Dec 30, 2012 at 4:04 PM
i think he won a free internet.
show us your coupon, newb.
freshseasons
Dec 30, 2012 at 9:26 PM
I totally agree with you. How dare he bump up a post which was hmm one and half month old. After all doesn't a thread die in a month or so. Even if takes 9 to 10 months for rover to reach mars and much more time perhaps years for science to discover things. We should by this time make a new thread every week and close all the old ones preferably.


Afterall haven't the verdict being reached and closed ,there is nothing further to explore in this topic or science to give..err this month perhaps.


My God..sometimes pushing humor through people becomes this difficult. *www.imvumafias.org/community/images/smilies/facepalm.gif