1 of 1- tennyson
- Exchanger
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- Registered: 2/06/2015
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Nasa's Curiosity rover finds water below surface of Mars
Interesting article.
The Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars since 2012.
Here are a couple of segments of the article I found interesting.
On Earth, the global magnetic field protects the atmosphere from being degraded by harmful cosmic radiation from the Sun. In the past, scientists believe that Mars had a similar magnetic field and thicker atmosphere, but that the field was lost around four billion years ago.
Today, cosmic radiation penetrates at least one metre into the Martian surface and would kill even the most robust microbes known on Earth.
Observations by the Mars probe’s stereo camera have previously shown areas characteristic of old riverbed, with rounded pebbles that indicate there were flowing rivers up to one metre deep in the past.
"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
- opendoug
- Exchange Chief Meteorologist
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- Registered: 2/23/2015
- Posts: 114
Re: Nasa's Curiosity rover finds water below surface of Mars
Great findings, even if the headline is a little bit off...it's not like the rover fell into a puddle or something, there is just evidence that there are substances in the soil that can absorb water, and that conditions exist during the night that could support the formation of "liquid brine" or permafrost. Exciting nontheless.
On a slightly related note, it was cool to hear Elon Musk say that there could be 50,000 humans on Mars by 2050. I'm sure that his estimate is aggressive, to say the least, but I like the fact that people are starting to think about the prospect of human colonization of other worlds. It makes me wonder what we should be doing now to prepare...there will be unimaginable ramifications for the economy, world government, military, religion, etc.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯