8/3/2005: Mars crater water

The crater is 23 miles (35 km) wide, 1.2 miles deep, and that stuff in the middle is a frozen disc of water about 200 meters thick. Oh yeah, and it's on Mars.

BigV sends along this ApoD. The image itself was taken in February by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on
board Mars Express, the European Space Agency probe which is exploring the planet.

Wow. So that would make this "puddle" about 7 miles across? Impressive. And fascinating. Thanks BigV.

I love the Cellar for many reasons and this is certainly one of them. Simply amazing--and I've not seen this pic anywhere but here. UT - you rock for making this possible! Plus, I'm trying to ingratiate myself to you seeing as how you've Skull & Bones connections and all.... ;)

I'm told that mars crater water is *the only* water to mix with single malt whiskey.

And stirred gently, only with a Hopkin Leg.

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

I heard somewhere recently that mars would be closer to the earth this month than it will be in a long, long time. I think the closest on the 27th. I better do some research before I say much more.....
great stuff. I love it.

mickja1 wrote:

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

Except for the cosmic rays on the way.


This turned up on slashdot just today.

Actually, boring.

As a former X-Ray Technologist, highly and obsessively monitored, I say Pah! What's the cancer rate of radiologists? Of techs? Lots of techs and rads die of thyroid CA...and worse. It's getting better but far above the national standard. Do you see anyone saying radiologic procedures should be banned?

mmmm...
pappy van winkle bourbon over martian iceberg...

capnhowdy wrote:

I heard somewhere recently that mars would be closer to the earth this month than it will be in a long, long time. I think the closest on the 27th. I better do some research before I say much more.....
great stuff. I love it.

You're a little late capn

"At 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) of Earth. This will be the closest that Mars has come to our planet in nearly 60,000 years." - http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_preview_021108.html

mickja1 wrote:

That is really cool for two reasons: 1) it makes it possible that life of some form exists/existed on Mars (at least bacteria, it is unlikely to be sterile), and 2) we can now send a manned mission to Mars. The water can be used for sustinence, generating oxygen, and generating fuel for a return to earth trip.

Damn right, we must exploit every resource in the universe, we must! :headshake

papabell wrote:

You're a little late capn

"At 5:51 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, 2003, Mars will be within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) of Earth. This will be the closest that Mars has come to our planet in nearly 60,000 years." - http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mars_preview_021108.html

Damn.... I guess I'll blame it on the 70's....
some IDOT no, (I didn't forget the i), emailed that to me just 2 weeks ago. That's my fuck up for this month. :smack: :wstupid:

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Damn right, we must exploit every resource in the universe, we must! :headshake

Already? And we still have 2-3 resources left on this planet....... ;)

This is way more important than putting new siding on the shuttle. Let's Go!

capnhowdy wrote:

Damn.... I guess I'll blame it on the 70's....
some IDOT no, (I didn't forget the i), emailed that to me just 2 weeks ago. That's my fuck up for this month. :smack: :wstupid:

Always check those emails on Snopes. ;)

theyve known about frozen water on mars for almost as long as theyve known about mars itself. (well had a good enough telescope to look at it)

south pole


telescope picture

Kagen4o4 wrote:

theyve known about frozen water on mars for almost as long as theyve known about mars itself. (well had a good enough telescope to look at it)...

I confess I already knew this (sowwy). But the title was catchy and the picture was much more dramatic. This is, after all, the IotD thread, and image counts.

I have some red / cyan glasses from spy kids 3D laying around so I was blown away looking at this anaglyph of the crater . But even crazier was this one at hi-res.

Strange, I tried the 3-D glasses and it looked like a hill instead of a depression. When I turned them around (cheap paper kind, rebend) and put the red lens on the left instead of the right, it looked great. No idea why?? :confused:

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Strange, I tried the 3-D glasses and it looked like a hill instead of a depression. When I turned them around (cheap paper kind, rebend) and put the red lens on the left instead of the right, it looked great. No idea why?? :confused:

God is just screwing with you. Nothing to worry about.

Alas, the Anaglyph 3D Glasses Standards Committee has much work to do. In fact, I believe even the two images Slight posted use opposite standards.

capnhowdy wrote:

Damn.... I guess I'll blame it on the 70's....
some IDOT no, (I didn't forget the i), emailed that to me just 2 weeks ago. That's my fuck up for this month. :smack: :wstupid:

No, you got it right. Yes, back in March it was the closest in 60K years. But THIS month Mars is again close, just not quite as close as it was before.

Chris

Queen of the Ryche wrote:

And stirred gently, only with a Hopkin Leg.

It's getting tougher and tougher to find a good hopkin leg these days, especially since I misplaced mine...

We've known for years that there was water ice on Mars, comingled to some extent with CO2 ice. What is unique about the crater is that it is all water ice, discrete and separate from frozen carbon dioxide. This crater is located one of the polar regions, however, making it kin to the ice caps we can easily see with a modest telescope.

Let me know when they find liqid water standing at the Martian equator. *That* will be exciting.

with ambient air pressure approximately 1% of what we enjoy here on our big blue marble, that water would sublimate (not melt->evaporate, since it's soooo cold. brrr.) But you're right on. That *would* be exciting. Very very.

BigV wrote:

with ambient air pressure approximately 1% of what we enjoy here on our big blue marble, that water would sublimate (not melt->evaporate, since it's soooo cold. brrr.) But you're right on. That *would* be exciting. Very very.

If the water did [sublimate] , it would probably become part of the planet's "atmosphere" and never make it back to the ground. Obvously the planet hasn't had any major changes in climate in eons.
I thought I saw my uncle Cleve strolling around in the last image.... :D

capnhowdy wrote:

Obvously the planet hasn't had any major changes in climate in eons.

Well we can fix that little problem pretty quickly. Hell, we can make it a ghetto in a couple of years, once we get there. :lol:

Get our asses up there and pump several trillion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, we'll have 'er put to rights in no time.

got any atmospheric rust converter?