Great News: Martinis In Space
Astronauts who reach the planet Mars someday will be able to make martinis, scientists have revealed. There is an enormous amount of water ice at the Martian South pole. There is so much ice that if it were to melt, the entire planet would be covered with 36 feet of water.
The scientists used a joint NASA-Italian Space Agency radar instrument on the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft to gauge the thickness and volume of ice deposits at the Martian south pole covering an area larger than Texas.
The deposits, up to 2.3 miles thick, are under a polar cap of white frozen carbon dioxide and water, and appear to be composed of at least 90 percent frozen water, with dust mixed in, according to findings published in the journal Science.
Scientists have known that water exists in frozen form at the Martian poles, but this research produced the most accurate measurements of just how much there is.
They are eager to learn about the history of water on Mars because water is fundamental to the question of whether the planet has ever harbored microbial or some other life. Liquid water is a necessity for life as we know it.
Characteristics like channels on the Martian surface strongly suggest the planet once was very wet, a contrast to its present arid, dusty condition.
Joking aside, that is really good news. Water will make a trip to Mars feasible. Astronauts will be able to make oxygen and hydrogen for fuel for a return trip.
By Tom, Friday, 16 March , 2007 @ 11:08 am
Would be nice to make the H2 and O2 here first to get ourselves away from Middle East oil…
By Quilly Mammoth, Friday, 16 March , 2007 @ 3:28 pm
The reason that Hydrogen and Oxygen will be such a resource on Mars is that Watermelons haven’t figured a way to stop the use of nuclear power in space…so far.