I am glad NASA did not have a big build up to this information beforehand. Their previous announcements have always been a let down to the build up. Strangely this seems like a very important discovery though.
Quote from: jak Kennedy on 07/25/2018 02:51 pmI am glad NASA did not have a big build up to this information beforehand. Their previous announcements have always been a let down to the build up. Strangely this seems like a very important discovery though.I don’t know rather cold water with lots of salts dissolved in it doesn’t sound like the most friendly environment for life.
Jeffery Plaut at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in California, Pasadena, cautions that the find seems promising, but will need to be confirmed with further study. The radar images could also be explained by particular arrangements of carbon dioxide ice or very pure water ice, he says.“If the result is confirmed, it would be the largest known occurrence of present-day liquid water on Mars,” says Plaut. “It clearly has implications for the history of climate and the possibility of habitats suitable for life.”
Does this news affect any M2020 landing site selections ??
The energy required to drill for this water and then pump it out without it freezing on the way up may be less than the energy required to just melt the more accessible ice on the surface.
Quote from: Jeff Lerner on 07/25/2018 08:00 pmDoes this news affect any M2020 landing site selections ??Glad someone has asked this.
M2020 does not have the heaters or the sterilization to land near the polar region. In any case the drill would go for centimeters, not meters.