Check this out. The latest lander with the digger arm uncovered some white stuff but nobody knew for sure what it was. I went with the salt contingent but now it has shown to have disappeared which means it had to have been water ice because salt cannot vanish like that in a few days. Here is the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25274243/
They had a clue about that earlier because they had to futz around with the oven because the martian soil was more adhesive than anticipated and it took a few days to get the sample to go into the opening, which is very small, I think less than a millimeter wide. They noticed white stuff in the sample when they first took a picture of it but when they tested the sample by heating up the oven there was no sign of water, because the white stuff had sublimated directly to vapor because of the low atmospheric pressure on mars, so now there are two lines of evidence, it for sure is water ice right under the probe!
Originally posted by sonhouseIt's great news, and suggests that life may have been possible when the sun was younger.
Check this out. The latest lander with the digger arm uncovered some white stuff but nobody knew for sure what it was. I went with the salt contingent but now it has shown to have disappeared which means it had to have been water ice because salt cannot vanish like that in a few days. Here is the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25274243/
They had a clue ...[text shortened]... on mars, so now there are two lines of evidence, it for sure is water ice right under the probe!
You might find this interesting;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7464583.stm
An old meteorite from around the time our universe was formed, very rare, composed of the same stuff as the sun. They are analysing it for chemical signatures of the things required for life to form.
Maybe Moby got it right after all, maybe we really are all made of stars.....
Originally posted by scottishinnzYeah, I read that tonight, well its night here anyway🙂 0.03% of them made of star stuff. It gives info about the original cloud our solar system came from. I have a sneaky feeling the proximity to Alpha Centauri is no co-incidence, probably part of the same cloud that formed our sun. That said, I would surely pick AC as the very first star to send probes or people when that becomes possible, if our civilization lasts long enough to get that technically saavy that is.
It's great news, and suggests that life may have been possible when the sun was younger.
You might find this interesting;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7464583.stm
An old meteorite from around the time our universe was formed, very rare, composed of the same stuff as the sun. They are analysing it for chemical signatures of the things ...[text shortened]... ife to form.
Maybe Moby got it right after all, maybe we really are all made of stars.....
One thing about that trip, you get three stars for the price of one, being a triple system. You ever hear of a sci fi author named Mary Doria Russell? She wrote a two volume series called 'The Sparrow' and 'Children of God' about such a trip to Alpha Centauri. She is a genius for sure.