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'Active glacier found' on Mars
news.bbc.co.uk — The icy feature has been spotted in images from the European Space Agency's (Esa) Mars Express spacecraft.
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- VeryBoredNow, on 12/20/2007, -12/+5Wouldn't that ice turn into gas as soon as it hit the surface and disapear into space? Which makes me wonder, if that has been happening for kahzillion years, how much ice/water was there on mars? HUH!?
- BigManOnCampus, on 12/20/2007, -3/+11No, if you make something cold enough you can keep it solid in a vacuum with very little transpiration. If this were not possible, then asteroids themselves would also evaporate.
- DrivinWest, on 12/20/2007, -1/+22Mars has an atmosphere.
- DrivinWest, on 12/20/2007, -0/+10Oh, and asteroids are rocks - they can't evaporate. You're likely thinking of comets which are a collection of ice, rock and dust.
- acdcfanbill, on 12/20/2007, -1/+2help help, my ice comets are sublimating!
- Haecceity, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1Google "icy asteroids". There are a ton of them.
- agorstan, on 12/20/2007, -1/+6Mars has polar water ice caps, so if they haven't evaporated, thats reason to think that ice anywhere else on the surface, if cold enough also wouldn't evaporate.
- brstilson, on 12/20/2007, -0/+6Actually, Mars' ice caps consist of frozen carbon dioxide, not water.
- glasnostic, on 12/20/2007, -0/+5wow.. so Total Recall was really on to something.. we need to vaporize that stuff and get some greenhouse gases going.
- beerden, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2Mars' ice caps consists of frozen carbon dioxide AND likely a lot of frozen water at other, deeper layers. Sometimes the CO2 could sublime away and reveal the layers water ice, especially at glacial edges. Also because Mars does have an atmosphere, although at very low pressure, this probably helps prevent water from subliming into space too quickly.
Glaciers of water are probably the easiest water in any large quantities that we could detect from space, but there is likely more water frozen just beneath the surface, locked into the layers of rock and dirt.
- brstilson, on 12/20/2007, -0/+6Actually, Mars' ice caps consist of frozen carbon dioxide, not water.
- BigManOnCampus, on 12/20/2007, -3/+11No, if you make something cold enough you can keep it solid in a vacuum with very little transpiration. If this were not possible, then asteroids themselves would also evaporate.
- Snowspot, on 12/20/2007, -9/+27There probably is water on mars... I mean, until humans get there, there's no way of knowing... but for a long time I've thought scientists are way too close-minded about where life can be found. I would say I am 100% sure there is some form of life on mars... I mean, it's a huge planet... do you really think there aren't some secluded places with moisture still around? Even caves underground could conceal an environment teeming with life... we need more imaginative people at NASA if you ask me .
- noahhoward, on 12/20/2007, -3/+21I'm not even sure we should be assuming that water is a necessity. Why does earth's life have to be the only life?
- deadmann, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1What is different about other planets that make the fundamental conditions change? It's still made up of the same elements and within the same universe. These judgements are made intelligently, not just out of lack of imagination.
- noahhoward, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1In the course of this conversation, water. If a planet lacks water should we automatically assume it lacks life?
- nirav72, on 12/20/2007, -4/+8Well chemically speaking..water is required for any biological compound to form. It is a universal solvent. That means, Many chemicals have parts which are attracted to water and parts which are repelled by it. Its like Newtonian laws - you can't escape them regardless of where you are in the universe. As deadmann said above - "everything is made of the same elements and within the same universe" You suddenly can't prove an idea that life or biological organism can evolve from ammonia or liquid methane. Because physically its an impossibility.
- akise, on 12/20/2007, -0/+5a) Poke around hoping to find *something*.
b) Looking for things we already know.
Pick the one that makes more sense with a limited budget in mind.- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -2/+5We can compromise between the two if we could actually convince congress to give NASA more.
- hudef, on 12/21/2007, -0/+2You can send NASA a donation, if you like.
- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -2/+5We can compromise between the two if we could actually convince congress to give NASA more.
- deadmann, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1What is different about other planets that make the fundamental conditions change? It's still made up of the same elements and within the same universe. These judgements are made intelligently, not just out of lack of imagination.
- davewelsh79, on 12/20/2007, -1/+7What do you mean? There is water, in the form of ice, on Mars and we have known that for years.
"The polar caps at both poles consist primarily of water ice. However, there is dry ice present on their surfaces." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars#Climate - DrivinWest, on 12/20/2007, -4/+23More imaginative people at NASA!? You do realize that these are the people who design, build, and operate spacecraft that go to other worlds. What far-out and imaginative thing have you done other than changing the color of your Second Life avatar's pants?
Science needs scientists, not science-fiction authors.- Snowspot, on 12/20/2007, -2/+7If I'm not mistaken, most of today's technology was predicted long ago by science fiction authors. I think you're being pretty close-minded.
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3You're not mistaken, in fact it was a science fiction writer who invented the communications satellite. It was a science fiction writer who first talked about us going to the Moon. Oh and BTW it will be science fiction writers who will first write about, and then inspire the people who invent the technology we'll be using tomorrow.
Closed-minded....buddy that's an understatement.- DrivinWest, on 12/20/2007, -4/+1Arthur C. Clark hypothesized the communications satellite, he most certainly did not invent it. Equating a good idea about bouncing signals from one satellite to another with NASA engineers and scientists basing finding on evidence rather than conjecture is really quite a stretch.
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3You're not mistaken, in fact it was a science fiction writer who invented the communications satellite. It was a science fiction writer who first talked about us going to the Moon. Oh and BTW it will be science fiction writers who will first write about, and then inspire the people who invent the technology we'll be using tomorrow.
- d03boy, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2Snowspot is right. Haven't you seen The Terminator?
http://www.ric.org/aboutus/mediacenter/press/2007/ ... - Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -4/+3Yeah like the scientists who built that idiotic erector set in orbit and call it a space station. They have to set aside tons of space for exercise equipment and can only stay for so long because of the zero g. If any one of them had seen the SCIENCE FICTION movie 2001, they'd know all you have to do is SPIN the thing and you can still do all your kiddie science projects in micro gravity in the center.
I'd say that the people at NASA have the combined imagination of a cockroach, oh yeah they've got plenty of science but what have they done with manned space flight in the past 40 years other than play patty cake in low Earth orbit....they make me sick with all the money they've blown with only that hunk of floating junk to show for it.- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3OK, show me your plans to make a centrifuge that can be powered by solar arrays, Stand up to the damage of space born debris and maintain a a stable orbit while still being a giant ***** gyro scope. Also you have to be able to assemble it in space and split it up into small bite sized chucks that can be placed into shuttle crafts. Do that and I'll hook you up with NASA and US Army engineers.
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -3/+4Uh you don't have to power a centrifuge in space...if you just spin it it will keep going (psst, kinda like the Earth spins ya know) *snicker*. You don't need a "gyro scope", you can spin the whole thing as one piece. Also how do you think they assembled the current monstrosity up there...uh they did it in bite sized chunks.
Sorry but you fail...three times. Read up a tad on the subject next time before you open your mouth and insert foot....three times. - Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1No sir. You've failed. You've failed hard.
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -3/+4Uh you don't have to power a centrifuge in space...if you just spin it it will keep going (psst, kinda like the Earth spins ya know) *snicker*. You don't need a "gyro scope", you can spin the whole thing as one piece. Also how do you think they assembled the current monstrosity up there...uh they did it in bite sized chunks.
- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3OK, show me your plans to make a centrifuge that can be powered by solar arrays, Stand up to the damage of space born debris and maintain a a stable orbit while still being a giant ***** gyro scope. Also you have to be able to assemble it in space and split it up into small bite sized chucks that can be placed into shuttle crafts. Do that and I'll hook you up with NASA and US Army engineers.
- Snowspot, on 12/20/2007, -2/+7If I'm not mistaken, most of today's technology was predicted long ago by science fiction authors. I think you're being pretty close-minded.
- miakeru, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3Yeah, I'm not a big fan of the fact that science mostly rules out the possibility of life on the planets we've discovered only because "life as we know it" would not be able to survive there. Why must all foreign life be "as we know it"? Isn't the fact that it's not our planet enough to make it *not* like we know it and therefore open up a slew of possibilities for other ways life may exist?
- DrivinWest, on 12/20/2007, -1/+4"Science," the over-encompassing term you've used, does not rule out the possibility of life on the planets we know of. All it does is wait for the evidence to accrue. At this point there is no evidence for life off of Earth (with the possible exception of ALH84001). It is disheartening to read about armchair exobiologists here on digg who are "100% sure" that there is life on Mars and others who fail to understand why scientists accumulate evidence rather than make wild guesses. The scientific method has served humanity well over the last few centuries - let's not backtrack.
- frosted, on 12/20/2007, -0/+0ICE maybe, WATER ICE? We do not know.
- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1While we can't actually confirm it ourselves at the moment there is a very high probability that there is H20 ice somewhere on Mars.
- Tebixan, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1"we need more imaginative people at NASA if you ask me"
Then why don't you get a job there?
Seriously, both the public & congress would go ape-***** if NASA started doing anything risky or imaginative. The people there would probably love to do some far out experiments, but there isn't the funding for it, and the government wouldn't let them do anything unproven anyway.
- noahhoward, on 12/20/2007, -3/+21I'm not even sure we should be assuming that water is a necessity. Why does earth's life have to be the only life?
- Cenobite, on 12/20/2007, -1/+52"Dr Gerhard Neukum, chief scientist on the spacecraft's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC)"
I wonder if his nickname is Duke.- feshmania, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1so this is how the storyline of the game got started...
- hoosierplew, on 12/20/2007, -1/+5I heard Dr. Neukum's been working on an AWESOME new version of the HRSC for the last ten years or so. Wonder if he'll ever finish it?
- aelias, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1More than likely it's "Doc", but his friends are all nerds, so they get the reference anyway.
- Gir53457, on 12/20/2007, -1/+4It amazes me that in the last ten years we have made so many strides in aerospace. We've assembled space stations, sent satellites to Saturn, found ice on Mars, landed TWO probes on Mars and all in less time than it takes to made a Duke ***** Nukem Game.
- rootneg2, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1that's DOCTOR duke ***** neukem to you!
- maxyRO, on 12/20/2007, -7/+5Somebody page Ripley!
- OsiVert, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1You mean Douglas Quaid
- SteveTheSultan, on 12/20/2007, -5/+6I just like the guys name: Neukum. Major street cred in the gamer community with that.
- Tallon29, on 12/20/2007, -6/+3I bet he's a republican.
- inajeep, on 12/20/2007, -0/+7Interesting flow.
For some reason I want a coffee w/ cream. - MarkOfTheDead, on 12/20/2007, -3/+11Sure would be funny if someday we found out our ancestors came from mars after destroying it and raping it for all it was worth.
- j0hneb0y81, on 12/20/2007, -4/+2i believe this to be true...
- Heni905, on 12/20/2007, -0/+4I've actually had that same idea!
- JibberGeorge, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Too many SUVs!!!
- Tebixan, on 12/20/2007, -0/+4BREAKING: Fossilized Hummer found on Mars!
- daivos, on 12/20/2007, -2/+10If martians don't stop polluting the atmosphere of the red planet....this will be gone soon.
- AntBing, on 12/20/2007, -2/+2Cool. Wonder if there's anything interesting locked up inside.
- Lolerdong, on 12/20/2007, -18/+13Even the microorganisms on Mars know to VOTE FOR RON PAUL 2008.
- muki, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1But the Martians are going to vote for Guiliani.
- dsendecki, on 12/20/2007, -2/+2I guess Obama has no chance on Mars, after all it is the RED planet.
- Haecceity, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1It's kinda weird how almost everywhere but the US, red means left wing and blue means right wing.
- dsendecki, on 12/20/2007, -2/+2I guess Obama has no chance on Mars, after all it is the RED planet.
- gn0stik, on 12/20/2007, -0/+3As an RP supporter, Stop... Just stop.
- muki, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1But the Martians are going to vote for Guiliani.
- cadethansen, on 12/20/2007, -10/+2Is it me, or has there been a lot of astronomy on digg lately?
- snotrokit, on 12/20/2007, -2/+1I think that people are getting sick of our planet, so they are looking elsewhere.
- TomFrost, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Either that or they know something about our planet that we don't.
- snotrokit, on 12/20/2007, -2/+1I think that people are getting sick of our planet, so they are looking elsewhere.
- cyberpope, on 12/20/2007, -4/+2Total Recall anyone?
- reticulate, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Get your ass to Mars.
- 3leggedHorse, on 12/20/2007, -7/+2 And in other news Mars has an atmosphere, flowing water and a pleasant temperature of 72F.
- reekon, on 12/20/2007, -8/+3Stopped reading at second word 'probable'
- sorensilk, on 12/20/2007, -0/+5"probable" - likely to occur or prove true. Example - He foresaw a probable business loss. OR - A probable active glacier has been identified for the first time on Mars.
- MacGeekGuy, on 12/20/2007, -0/+4Science, life and everything is all a game of probability. To stop reading something because it's "probable" is asinine (no offense).
- Haecceity, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2Right, because evidence isn't even worth considering unless it's a "slam dunk."
- scorpionking, on 12/20/2007, -6/+0I wonder what took so long to find it. Mars aint that big
- fieserfettsack, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2actually, it is...
- KyloOb, on 12/20/2007, -1/+2Its Armageddon meets Titanic!
- ahpro, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Are we gonna find out how big this is?
- njection, on 12/20/2007, -3/+6Get Your Ass To MARS
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1Close but you have to put in the Austrian accent.
- MrBison, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1So an active glacier is defined by "may only be several thousand years old"... so they don't really know..... That's like saying Active Mass Murderer found on earth Genghis Khan didn't die that long ago
- MacEnvy, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2In geology we frequently refer to anything that's happened in the last 100,000 years or so as a recent event. Planetary timescales are mind-boggling.
- Haecceity, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1You think Genghis Khan was a long time ago? How long's your attention span?
- MrBison, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1pretty short
- steviedoodle, on 12/20/2007, -1/+4SUMMARY: Duke Nukem discovers glacier on mars.
- entrophize, on 12/20/2007, -7/+0I didn't know water had a 'spectral signature'.
Does it also have a business card and nice briefcase? - Dylson, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1DO NOT WANT!
- bubba9999, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3Jesus Christ - let's get up there and start the warming before it's too late!
- JibberGeorge, on 12/20/2007, -4/+3WE ALL GONAH DAAAAAAHHHH!!!
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1Well it certainly looks like a "flood feature", and it must be fairly recent cause the dust storms would tend to wipe out features like that I'd think. Pretty cool....means it'll be that much easier once we get off our duffs and colonize.
- omgwthlol, on 12/20/2007, -3/+1i seee
- scififan9009, on 12/20/2007, -5/+3NASA routinely photoshops the images that come from Mars all the time. They know more than they are telling the general public.
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/- MadAce, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3Fake. That comment has clearly been photoshopped. The shadows are all wrong.
- Scheissen, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1No *****. The images they get have no color so they use the measurements of the wavelengths to fill in color.
- subliminalurge, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Took a look at that link, and one big question comes to mind....
Just exactly how much weed does that dude go through in a year?
- johnomaz, on 12/20/2007, -4/+0This is so stupid. Scientists are really stretching it this time. They have wasted billions on trying to find some evidence of live on Mars and found none. Next, they look for water because their narrow mindedness believes that there can be only life if there is water. WAKE THE ***** UP!!! Just because life on Earth needs water doesn't mean that water is the essential building block on another planet. Same with oxygen. Just cause we need it, doesn't mean other life does. With the vastness of the universe, its pretty sad that scientists are so sure that there is/was life on Mars. They have wasted so much money for nothing they have made themselves believe that it must be true.
- osbjmg, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2So if you had a reasonable assumption and limited funds, what would you do instead? Something smarter? Not look for water? Not send rovers?
- Sinudeity, on 12/20/2007, -1/+3The water is not looking for signs of life.
The water is for us. - reticulate, on 12/20/2007, -2/+1And so the ignorance of organic chemistry lives to see another day.
Ever think that there's ***** iron-clad rules why practically all of the periodic table is incapable of sustaining life in any form, let alone intelligent life?
- JonTheGoose, on 12/20/2007, -0/+5Screw glaciers. Where's the Mass Relay?? I KNOW IT'S THERE SOMEWHERE!!!! GET ON IT NASA!!!
- Narasil, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Ohhhhh I looooove that game. Currently on my third playthrough....I'm so addicted.
- Sinudeity, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1Pack your bags Martha! Where going to mars!
- FoalytheCentaur, on 12/20/2007, -1/+1i like the way NASA and ESA still colour the photo's coz mars is actualy completely grey!
- leerayIG88, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1It's Garbage Day.
- Rippleeffect, on 12/20/2007, -0/+2"That means it is an active glacier now. This is unique, and there are probably more" Since when does unique mean more than one?
- Truzseeker, on 12/20/2007, -0/+1yea, ok but see breaking news at www.enterprisemission.com
- hudef, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1'Active glacier found' on Mars
I'm sure that this is a dumb question, but... is there such a thing as a "passive glacier"? - thirteenthcor, on 12/21/2007, -0/+1"In other news, a giant machine, found inside one of Mars' mountains with one of the Mars rovers, raises new questions."
"We don't know what it is yet" speculated Dr. Nuekum.
"It could be an ancient device for destroying the entire planets' supply of Tribidium, but a few of our own research group thinks it might have something to do with releasing water vapor"
"In related news, Austria has announced plans to send one of their elite Spy/Soldiers to mars, in the hopes of uncovering any, if at all, conspiracies involving the planet's tribidium supply"
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