Breaking: NASA Says Water Flows on Mars - Update

[kris40k]

I was expecting the announcement that the rovers had developed intelligence and were rebelling against their masters, quickly reproducing into a race of synthetic beings biding their time before invading Earth and establishing world peace by linking us into a single networked intelligence.

Salty water is neat too, though.

I can see it now, the last tweet from Curiosity (@MarsCuriosity):

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS-EXCEPT MARS
ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE
#SORRYNOTSORRY​

 

[Kerethos]

The paper refers to hydrated salts [http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2546.html], which isn't exactly the image the description that comes to mind when one hears "water". They also list the primary ingredients of these hydrated salts as magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate.

Sounds fun?

At a glance - and about 12 years since my last chemistry class - that seems unpleasant. Also since Mars barely has an atmosphere I'd not expect anything outside of some very hardy microorganisms to be able to exist there. I mean we have examples of such creatures living in arsenic-rich waters, permanently dark ice (underground) and inside rock - so there's at least a theoretical chance of finding such life on otherwise barren stellar bodies.

Edit: Though, mostly, I just really want to see how the worlds religions (and just people in general) would deal with the confirmed existence of life on other planets. I expect a marvelous show of anything between utter insanity and "*shrug* cool, you found space algae".

Hm, though that would just be business as usual... wouldn't it? Still, I'd like to live in a world that has space algae, or space mold. Or some bizarre fish that the Japanese will go to space just to hunt, and then sell at absurd prices even though it just awful to eat.

 

[happyninja42]

I wish NASA wouldn't announce that they plan to announce something.

Gives more attention this way, which NASA sadly needs.

Certainly, I can see why they would do this, it's more or less their only option left, but it's still annoying/embarrassing/depressing.

Considering some of their previous announcements that were spur of the moment, and turned out to be inflated after the evidence had been examined more closely, I think they are taking their time to verify first.

The paper refers to hydrated salts [http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2546.html], which isn't exactly the image the description that comes to mind when one hears "water". They also list the primary ingredients of these hydrated salts as magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate.

Sounds fun?

At a glance - and about 12 years since my last chemistry class - that seems unpleasant. Also since Mars barely has an atmosphere I'd not expect anything outside of some very hardy microorganisms to be able to exist there. I mean we have examples of such creatures living in arsenic-rich waters, permanently dark ice (underground) and inside rock - so there's at least a theoretical chance of finding such life on otherwise barren stellar bodies.

Edit: Though, mostly, I just really want to see how the worlds religions (and just people in general) would deal with the confirmed existence of life on other planets. I expect a marvelous show of anything between utter insanity and "*shrug* cool, you found space algae".

Hm, though that would just be business as usual... wouldn't it? Still, I'd like to live in a world that has space algae, or space mold. Or some bizarre fish that the Japanese will go to space just to hunt, and then sell at absurd prices even though it just awful to eat.

Until we find intelligent life, most of the population won't really give a shit. The people who are interested in this stuff will be really psyched, but the "Average Joe" will be more concerned with their daily problems to really flip out about some microbes. While this is just an opinion, and I certainly don't have any evidence to back it up, I suspect that most of the religious people in the world accept the idea that there could be life on other planets. So finding evidence of it won't really shake their world view at all. And for those who don't believe it's possible, well they are so closed minded that nothing we show them will convince them anyway. The Ken Ham's of the world will just keep their "God Glasses" on, and ignore anything that contradicts their narrow world view. So again, won't really freak them out.

 

[VaporWare]

So there might be salt water on Mars, which might make it possible for life to survive, which might mean life already exists or existed? Hooray, I guess.
In all seriousness, as much as I love science, and the cosmos in particular, I just can't get excited over speculative reporting on scientific breakthroughs. The media just handles it badly. Everything is pumped up in order to grab attention, and is usually much less significant when you actually read, from the scientists themselves, what has actually been discovered and what it actually means. We've been a few years away from discovering life on Mars for a long time now, and I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling that in a few years time we'll still be a few years away.

No, there /is/ liquid salt water on Mars, which /could/ support life. /That's/ not speculative anymore, that's the current state of known facts about Mars as of now, and it fits in with what we've already learned about possible life/history of life there.

It's not just about finding life on Mars either, it's about studying the processes and signatures of life in extreme conditions and further expanding our understanding and expectations of natural organic chemistry. Even if we never find actual 'lifeforms' on Mars, studying a near-Earth 'failed' biosphere gives us valuable insight into the less friendly sectors of our own world, as well as some sense of what to expect if things go very wrong back home or what we might find outside our solar system if we get that far.

 

[rcs619]

So there might be salt water on Mars, which might make it possible for life to survive, which might mean life already exists or existed? Hooray, I guess.
In all seriousness, as much as I love science, and the cosmos in particular, I just can't get excited over speculative reporting on scientific breakthroughs. The media just handles it badly. Everything is pumped up in order to grab attention, and is usually much less significant when you actually read, from the scientists themselves, what has actually been discovered and what it actually means. We've been a few years away from discovering life on Mars for a long time now, and I hate to say it, but I have a bad feeling that in a few years time we'll still be a few years away.

No, there /is/ liquid salt water on Mars, which /could/ support life. /That's/ not speculative anymore, that's the current state of known facts about Mars as of now, and it fits in with what we've already learned about possible life/history of life there.

It's not just about finding life on Mars either, it's about studying the processes and signatures of life in extreme conditions and further expanding our understanding and expectations of natural organic chemistry. Even if we never find actual 'lifeforms' on Mars, studying a near-Earth 'failed' biosphere gives us valuable insight into the less friendly sectors of our own world, as well as some sense of what to expect if things go very wrong back home or what we might find outside our solar system if we get that far.

Since liquid water still flows on the surface (albeit only when the temperature warms up enough, if I'm reading thing right) that actually raises a lot of interesting possibilities. I'm actually really curious about the prospect of there being underground aquafirs on Mars. Just because Mars can't host huge amounts of liquid water on the surface doesn't mean it's a dried out dead rock. There could be large amounts of it underground. Maybe even cave systems, or who knows what else.

Tons of interesting possibilities (granted, we'd need to be able to explore in person to find that sort of stuff).

 

[Drops a Sweet Katana]

Unfortunately for any future Martians, Mars' soil is pretty toxic to us and any plants we might try to grow in it. It makes the whole endeavour that much more of a challenge.

 

[RedRockRun]

When the future turns into a body horror movie, people will look back to this moment with a lot of confirmation bias.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Heard about this on CBC. There is the possibility of Martian life being discovered within my life time and I'm happy about that.

 

[Dalisclock]

No spoilers!

First we drop an actor there, then we find out if he can survive.

You mean MATT DAMON?

This is how it starts people. We were warned!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq5vZ1I0HAU&list=PLZh-ijTJHOA-auy0nSEQbEGe2idC9K-6e

When we're slaving away in the underground water mines, don't say we weren't warned!

 

[Thaluikhain]

I wish NASA wouldn't announce that they plan to announce something.

Gives more attention this way, which NASA sadly needs.

Certainly, I can see why they would do this, it's more or less their only option left, but it's still annoying/embarrassing/depressing.

Considering some of their previous announcements that were spur of the moment, and turned out to be inflated after the evidence had been examined more closely, I think they are taking their time to verify first.

They could always not announce that they have an announcement if they aren't sure they do.

 

[renegade7]

It doesn't mean that we've found life on Mars, or even evidence of life. What it does mean, and this is what's far more important, is that liquid water can exist in an environment like that on Mars. While it doesn't mean anything about life on Mars in particular, it has huge implications for the search of alien life because it means we can significantly broaden our search. It's a really, really big deal.

 

[John the Gamer]

"It does not just mean our neighbor once hosted life"

Actually, it doesn't mean that at all. Water does not mean life exists. It means that it might have been possible for life to exist on Mars.

 

[happyninja42]

Holy shit, a scientific article on the Escapist that didn't title itself as some form of doom and gloom, pop cultured influenced "Oh shit, now we're all fucked" kind of article?! A regular article!? That simply states the basic facts?! I'm fucking shocked, SHOCKED I say.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Now that I know this and have already watched The Martian, I feel like Matt Damon's character was a bit of an overachiever.

 

[FalloutJack]

The water is watery, salty, and flowing. Well, my mind's made up. Anybody else think Bradbury's on to something?

 

[FFHAuthor]

Well, NASA thought that there was the strong possibility of liquid water on Mars as far back as the 1970's and the Viking missions. That was one of the original considerations for the Viking landing zones (not to mention the possibility of liquid water was alluded to in many of the Viking Orbiter mosaics collected), locations where they believed there was liquid water sources...including one of the more notorious spots that most conspiracy theorists know and love, Cydonia.

 

[Lightknight]

"unambiguous evidence"? Are they trying to say verifiably true in a less straightforward way? Weird choice of words to say that the evidence is clear.

 

[Gerald Turner]

The ESA beat them to the punch. I like that. Good insight. NASA falling behind. http://www.nbi.ku.dk/english/news/news15/mars-has-belts-of-glaciers-consisting-of-frozen-water/