More water on Mars than thought: Curiosity scoop

http://phys.org/news/2013-09-mars-rover-curiosity-sample-planet.html


Finding 2 percent water by weight of the first sample of soil, much higher than expected, bodes well for future mars travelers. A couple of cups of water in a cubic foot it seems. And all you have to do to get it is to heat the soil up to a couple hundred degrees. I heard a scientist talk about it on the BBC today. Not sure if she was saying 200 degrees C or 200 degrees F. Makes a bit of difference! Still, solar powered water stills come to mind, almost free water.

That said, I expect they will drill under the surface and come across lakes of underwater ice.

Originally posted by sonhouse
http://phys.org/news/2013-09-mars-rover-curiosity-sample-planet.html


Finding 2 percent water by weight of the first sample of soil, much higher than expected, bodes well for future mars travelers. A couple of cups of water in a cubic foot it seems. And all you have to do to get it is to heat the soil up to a couple hundred degrees. I heard a scientist ...[text shortened]...
That said, I expect they will drill under the surface and come across lakes of underwater ice.

If they drill far enough they may hit liquid water. The marsian dynamo is dead but I bet there is still heat in the interior.

Originally posted by joe beyser
If they drill far enough they may hit liquid water. The marsian dynamo is dead but I bet there is still heat in the interior.

I would be as happy as a pig in poop if they discovered just plain old ice! Water to drink, grow crops, take showers, cook, then splitting it up into H2 and O2, for rocket fuel and auto fuel, since there is no O2 on Mars, they would need something like fuel cells with electric motors to get around and there in the ice and water, it is all there.