NASA will announce that they believe they have evidence of water on mars tommorrow morning at 10am. Articles at space.com, and upcoming issue of Science. Announcement has been moved up due to story leaks...

Hmmm...hope this isn't just a reshash of the crater "seepage" pond photos that have been out there for a while....

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), June 22, 2000

Answers

Ahh, good news for space science fans, there are many more photos of better quality than the b&w one I saw some time ago. Here are the links:

Scientists Find Evidence of Water on Mars

Signs of erosion and debris flow are seen in this high-resolution view of gullies eroded into the wall of meteor impact crater in Nachos Terra on Mars, taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. The image shows channels and associated aprons of debris, interpreted to have formed by groundwater seepage, surface runoff, and debris flow. NASA's Mars Global Surveyor is the first in a series of spacecraft designed to explore the red planet. (Nasa/Reuters)

More photos: http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast22jun_2.htm?list/a>

And the best place to get Mars "water" evidence photos, at Malin: "a href="http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/june2000/">http://www.msss.c om/mars_images/moc/june2000/

To infinity and beyond!

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), June 22, 2000.

Woops, smoked the last two links, here we go:

More photos: http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast22jun_2.htm?list

And the best place to get Mars "water" evidence photos, at Malin: http://www.msss.c om/mars_images/moc/june2000/

If that doesn't work, try copy and paste...

To an html remedial course and beyond!

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), June 22, 2000.

if there,s water. there could be frog,s.

-- al-d. (dogs@zianet.com), June 22, 2000.

One of the comments about this is that it makes future exploration of Mars easier. Since water is already there, we don't need to transport it.

I don't know about that. They say not to drink the water when you go to Mexico...

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

Sysman,

Who goes to Mexico to drink the water? There are much better things to drink there. :}

But on Mars, if there is water, and if you have a power source, then it can be "cracked." Hydrogen for rocket fuel, and oxygen for breathing and oxidizer. Travel to and from Mars becomes much cheeper, and more safe.

Ad Astra!

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

Not to mention an infinately greater chance of finding life (however primative) still hanging on there!

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

A big thumbs up on both points, doc'. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 22, 2000.

The presence of water not only equals water itself, but also raw material that can be processed into oxygen and hydrogen for breathing and for fuel. Of course, water wouldn't be plentiful, so the "mining" of water on Mars would deplete a scarce resource that future generations might prefer we keep in situ rather than exploit.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), June 23, 2000.

Good point Brian,

One could envision a very heavy "tax" on the "export" of water in the form of fuel by future Mars colonists. Maybe this would provide a good economic incentive for an attempt to "capture" a small comet (full of water and other valuable chemicals) into Mars orbit?

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), June 23, 2000.

Who really gives a frog's fat ass if there is water on Mars? We seem to make an assumption that if we find an oxygen rich atmosphere or water on another planet that there may be life there. Isn' it possible that aliens (if any) breathe nitrogen and eat rocks in order to stay alive? We seem to assume that prerequisites for life include water, oxygen, and carbon, only because those are human requirements.

We'll learn the truth soon enough when the mothership comes back for Regis Philbin and Nell Carter.

-- CJS (cjs@aol.com), June 24, 2000.

"Who really gives a frog's fat ass if there is water on Mars?"

Comical how you blended Al-D's response into the topic, CJS. Personally, I'm glad I didn't have to guess on the picture again. So far, the pictures of Mars look to me a lot like elephant skin.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), June 24, 2000.