Teh PW
Self Impossed Exile (This Space for rent)
Member # 1203
posted
That's certainly more encouraging... but will that water on mars be consumable? like not filled with microbs that would really fuck you up, as per al them mars-gone-bad movies?
Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Err, isn't that what we have water purifiers for?
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged
quote:"A key question is 'How did the ice get there in the first place?'" said James W. Head of Brown University.
I actually corresponded with this fellow while researching a paper/presentation on extraterrestrial glaciation... so needless to say, this is right up my alley.
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
If there are microbes on Mars, they'll most likely resemble archaea, so they'll be cold adapted, anerobic lithotropes or organotropes (getting energy from rocks or organic molecules).
Boiling them might not work, and they may be resistant, or at least less susceptable to radiaton etc. The only way to know would be to find them and study them.
Filtration would probably be effective, but you'd need to make sure it's just water, and that there's nothing nasty in there too. I've used filters that go down to a small number of micrometers in labs (small bacteria can be 0.1 micrometers wide though). I suppose reverse osmosis would work. Suffice to say, the boffins at NASA probably allready have a plan.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
So we need to build something that can go to Mars, Land in the right place, take a core sample and return to Earth.
I think I had something like that in the garage.
Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged
Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
The microbes might make toxins, too, so that killing them doesn't purify the water. If there are even microbes *there.* I highly doubt there's any life currently on Mars; there doesn't seem to be an ecosystem anywhere near the surface at least, which would be the most logical place - the most abundant energy source (the sun). I suppose they could exist deep down somewhere, but I wonder what they're eating that provides enough energy - how much do we know about the interior composition of Mars, anyway? We should plant some seismographs and drop a couple of really big bombs (not nukes, don't want to dirty up a pristine environment with radioactive fallout...).
And what if they weren't even carbon-based? All chemical methods might be completely ineffective, and who knows about heat and radiation tolerances in that case? Whatever they are, though, I'm sure they're susceptible to being studied and figured out.
So, in short, ... yeah. We need a core sample.
Registered: Jul 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Well apparently "the right place" is an area several times larger than LA, so that shouldn't be too difficult. As for the core drill an return, aren't they working on something similar for a future Europa mission anyway? Still, I think the more likely scenario would involve an in situ robot with core drill and remote lab. After that it'd make more sense for the next step to be a manned expedition.
posted
A Mars Sample Return mission has been in the works for years. I would imagine that this would help get that on the fast track.
Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
What about that meteor that feel to Earth and was discovered to be from Mars? Did they ever determine if there were truly microbes in it?
Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Mars Needs Women: What about that meteor that feel to Earth and was discovered to be from Mars? Did they ever determine if there were truly microbes in it?
AFAIK, there was never enough evidence either way.
-------------------- Sparky:: Think! Question Authority, Authoritatively. “Believe nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see.” EMSparks
Shalamar: To save face, keep lower half shut.
Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
ALH84001? I think that the jury is still out.
The bugs in question are possible fossils of very small microbe like life. Perhaps. There is no real way of proving one way or the other AFAIK.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
