Nasa Mars water announcement

[BLACKEAGLE]

Nasa Mars water announcement: agency announces it has found proof of flowing water, improving chances of supporting alien life

The full details and implications of the findings to be set out in a press conference

Mars true-color globe showing Terra Meridiani NASA/Greg Shirah
Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars — a discovery with potentially huge implications for the possibility of life on the planet.

Scientists have long suspected that the planet might have running water. But the new findings confirm that it is on the planet, combined with “hydrated salts” in a brine.

Normally, water on Mars freezes or evaporates, because of the intense environment on the planet. But the addition of salts means that it is much more stable, allowing it to survive on the Red Planet.

Scientists have long speculated that the Recurring Slope Lineae — or dark patches — on Mars were made up of briny water. But the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding the hydrated salts.

The new research is based on an analysis of spectral data from the American space agency Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.

Breaking down reflected light into its different wavelengths provides a chemical "fingerprint" of what a substance is made of. The Mars scientists devised a new method that allowed chemical signatures to be extracted from individual image pixels, providing a much higher level of resolution than had been achieved before.

“Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) are seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes initially proposed, but not confirmed, to be caused by briny water seeps,” the team behind the discovery wrote in another paper, due to be delivered this week. “Here we report spectral evidence for hydrated salts on RSL slopes from four different RSL locations from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars on board Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

“These results confirm the hypothesis that RSL are due to present-day activity of briny water. “

Additional reporting by agencies
Nasa Mars water announcement: agency announces it has found proof of flowing water, improving chances of supporting alien life | Science | News | The Independent

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Water on the red planet: Nasa reveals major discovery – in pictures
View images of Martian briny flows of water from analysed spectral data from the CRISM instrument onboard Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

View images of Martian briny flows of water from analysed spectral data from the CRISM instrument onboard Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

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[djordjem87]

I hope they are not right about this because if people somehow manage to find a way and live there the red planet will be destroyed same as the blue one. It is a groundbreaking discovery and an exciting one as well but do we really need to go that far! This topic is not about that, i know but still it makes me wander if our plans about anything were ever honest. I would not be surprised that we find out about some experiments on the Mars like in the movie. Whenever i read an article like this i have mix feeling of excitement and fear. Some powerful people really like to play God.

 

[Corzhens]

I hope they are not right about this because if people somehow manage to find a way and live there the red planet will be destroyed same as the blue one. It is a groundbreaking discovery and an exciting one as well but do we really need to go that far! This topic is not about that, i know but still it makes me wander if our plans about anything were ever honest. I would not be surprised that we find out about some experiments on the Mars like in the movie. Whenever i read an article like this i have mix feeling of excitement and fear. Some powerful people really like to play God.

I have the opposite of your apprehension. Mars is another frontier that man is aiming to conquer. So what else is new? Before Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt. Everest, people were saying that the mountain should be left alone so as not to disturb the Gods. But we all know what happened and now Mt. Everest is a sort of resort for mountain climbers. So it is not a far fetched idea for "mountaineers" to set their sights on Mars.

 

[djordjem87]

I have the opposite of your apprehension. Mars is another frontier that man is aiming to conquer. So what else is new? Before Sir Edmund Hillary conquered Mt. Everest, people were saying that the mountain should be left alone so as not to disturb the Gods. But we all know what happened and now Mt. Everest is a sort of resort for mountain climbers. So it is not a far fetched idea for "mountaineers" to set their sights on Mars.

It is a good point. I agree. However, i am not able to compare Everest with Mars even with all the progress people made in that field. I don't know, maybe i should be less sceptic about efforts we make to conquer things. I am not into that kind of info. Can you tell me all good things that conquering the Everest brought to our lives? I can recall how many people lost their lives but really cannot remember any important discovery or a happening that was important. I only see our personal joy in that feat. I just think in the same direction about Mars. What good will it bring. We are going to move there? That would be a nice change and a true cause because our world is rejecting us slowly.

 

[Corzhens]

It is a good point. I agree. However, i am not able to compare Everest with Mars even with all the progress people made in that field. I don't know, maybe i should be less sceptic about efforts we make to conquer things. I am not into that kind of info. Can you tell me all good things that conquering the Everest brought to our lives? I can recall how many people lost their lives but really cannot remember any important discovery or a happening that was important. I only see our personal joy in that feat. I just think in the same direction about Mars. What good will it bring. We are going to move there? That would be a nice change and a true cause because our world is rejecting us slowly.

You are right because that's also what I think - conquering the highest mountain is just like winning the 100-meter dash. It doesn't create food, hungry people remains hungry. Maybe the only good thing in the conquest of Mr. Everest is the establishment of the camps as tourists spots and travel agencies that earn during the climbing season. The Nepalis are still poor despite the climbers who are mostly foreigners.

 

[rz3300]

While I do find it very interesting and worth reading up on, I am kind of tired of hearing about the whole water theory and how that leads to life on Mars. I get it, but it has been put out there before and just seems to not really offer us anything, especially when you consider that they think that there is water on many other objects out there. Maybe something will come from it though, and I will be proven wrong, but my hopes are not too high right now.

 

[silentwarfare]

It's a great find indeed, but riddle me this: How do they expect to get past the Van Allen Radiation Belt? I just watched a few more videos and read several articles about that this year and last about how NASA has never been able to send living, flesh-and-blood astronauts beyond low orbit space stations and out beyond the first lower layer. They can send rovers and heavily shielded electronics through if they're lucky, but not even all of those make it through. Human flesh certainly doesn't. So even if life is suitable there, how do they expect to inhabit it or do anything with it when mankind can't even reach it yet? It kind of places people at odds on the whole moon landing thing too come to think of it...

 

[djdefense]

Its all in the calculations really. Not only do we launch spacecraft when the Earth and Mars are closest, but we also calculate the trajectories of about a zillion other objects. Radiation isn't going to be a problem because technology exists (thanks to a mindless nuclear proliferation around the world) that is more than capable of protecting our astronauts from reaching Mars in one piece. At least that's the assumption

 

[silentwarfare]

Its all in the calculations really. Not only do we launch spacecraft when the Earth and Mars are closest, but we also calculate the trajectories of about a zillion other objects. Radiation isn't going to be a problem because technology exists (thanks to a mindless nuclear proliferation around the world) that is more than capable of protecting our astronauts from reaching Mars in one piece. At least that's the assumption

They have the technology to shield most of the equipment going out, but then there are things like this where NASA admits that they were never able to get past the Van Allen belts to send a human being into space beyond lower orbit (!) If that is the case, then it would mean that in 2016, they cannot do what was claimed to have been done in the 1960's. Correct?

At exactly 3:03 of this video, the Nasa engineer says that it will pass through the van allen belts, and he then goes on to state that they must solve the challenges of increased radiation before sending people through that region of space.

If this is not yet solved in 2016, then it was never solved in the 1960's or any time thereafter, despite the claims made.

It's an interesting conversation piece, and definitely something to get people paying attention to what they are saying.

Here is the video: