[Graeme]

Ice lake found on the Red Planet

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')riday, 29 July, 2005, 12:31 GMT 13:31 UK
A giant patch of frozen water has been pictured nestled within an unnamed impact crater on Mars.
The existence of water on Mars raises the prospect that past or present life will one day be detected.
It also boosts the chances that manned missions can eventually be sent to the Red Planet.

[skiwi]

Like peak oil water on Mars is really old news to some http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/steadlake.html

[Graeme]

The reason I posted was to counter this report, which suggests life may not exist:

So cool: Study shows Mars in 4-billion-year freeze
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'J')uly 22, 2005
The current mean temperature on the equator of Mars is a blustery -69 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists have long thought that the Red Planet was once temperate enough for water to have existed on the surface and perhaps for life to have evolved there. But a new study by MIT and Caltech scientists gives this idea the cold shoulder.

[EnergySpin]

Too bad that the slobs ate all the oil for their suburbia, SUV, boat, McMansions, culture of waste. We could have used that to robotically explore the solar system. Well, it will be a while (if ever) before we can even contemplate something like this. Humanitys dream to reach for the star was killed by thousands of miles of sprawl, lined by KFC , McDonalds and outlets selling cheap Chinese goods

[Graeme]

And yet President Bush, House and Senate have made the commitment to go there.
http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic10245.html

[EnergySpin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', 'A')nd yet President Bush, House and Senate have made the commitment to go there.
http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic10245.html

[Graeme]

Mars Plan Envisions Comfy Colony

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '0')2:00 AM Jul. 27, 2005 PT
A group of aspiring Martians has drawn up detailed plans for settling the Red Planet, and is working on a cookbook that will use ingredients grown on Mars.
The Mars Foundation is proposing a settlement in the next 20 years that would start with a dozen initial inhabitants and eventually expand to several hundred.
The settlement, about the size of Boston's North End neighborhood, will use local materials for construction and provide the comforts of home to terran migrants, including cars (rovers, actually), garages and living areas with skylights.
"Private living spaces look out across the Martian plain," said Mars Foundation co-founder Joseph E. Palaia IV, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at MIT.
The foundation has even scoped out a potential building site for the settlement, along a hillside 80 yards above the valley floor in an area called Candor Chasma.
Many in the Mars colonization movement believe humans have a deep spiritual and psychological need to seek out and explore new frontiers.

[gg3]

If nothing else, the prospective colonists may develop some ideas that could be useful when colonization eventually occurs (if we don't do ourselves before then).

Re. the ice patch: That substantially increases the probability of life as we know it (carbon-based, DNA-based) existing at present. We need to get a robotic mission up there ASAP, to be followed by a live mission when that becomes possible.

We also need a new propulsion system that will reduce the travel time appreciably. Or rather, since NASA already has a few in mind, we need the funding to develop & test 'em.

[deconstructionist]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', 'S')o I think the question that life exists on Mars is still open. The consequences are truly enormous if in fact it can be proven that it does exist or has existed there. Otherwise we could be alone in the galaxy, and this provides even more impetus to look after our own planet. We can learn a lot from Mars.

[Graeme]

I would like to inject a little more optimism and adventure back into this board by posting this very interesting interview of Buzz Aldrin:

Mars - the next frontier?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')e is currently promoting his new children's book, Reaching for the Moon, but is happy to discuss topics ranging from the current shuttle mission ("a near miss") to human travel to Mars ("probable") and his detailing of an other-worldly "close encounter" which he believes could occur on Friday 13 April, 2029.
Then he adds more lightly: "The other possibility is that they'll fix it in short order and squeeze in the rest of the missions, about 19, before 2010."
On the proposed Moon landing, announced in January last year by President Bush, Aldrin says: "Between 2015 and 2020, I think that's highly do-able. If the flying of the CEV [crew exploration vehicle] is accelerated to 2011 or 2010, which they would like to do, it's conceivable. Maybe by 2018, with four people.
Of the mission to Mars also announced by Bush, Aldrin seems more reserved. Could it happen in my lifetime? "It's probable. Between 2030 and 2035 is reasonable, depending on how much we want to establish a degree of permanence of explorers, to then turn over to commercial activities on the Moon.

[Graeme]

How do you get plants to grow on Mars?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')umans will visit and explore Mars in the decades ahead. Inevitably, they'll want to take plants with them. Plants provide food, oxygen, companionship and a patch of green far from home.
On Mars, plants would have to tolerate conditions that usually cause them a great deal of stress -- severe cold, drought, low air pressure, soils that they didn't evolve for. But plant physiologist Wendy Boss and microbiologist Amy Grunden of North Carolina State University believe they can develop plants that can live in these conditions. Boss and Grunden hope to produce Mars-friendly plants by borrowing genes from these extreme-loving microbes. And the first genes they're taking are those that will strengthen the plants' ability to deal with stress.
If Boss and Grunden are successful, their work could make a huge difference to humans living in marginal environments here on Earth. In many third-world countries, says Boss, "extending the crop a week or two when the drought comes could give you the final harvest you need to last through winter. If we could increase drought resistance, or cold tolerance, and extend the growing season, that could make a big difference in the lives of a lot of people."

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', 'I') would like to inject a little more optimism and adventure back into this board by posting this very interesting interview of Buzz Aldrin:

Mars - the next frontier?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')e is currently promoting his new children's book, Reaching for the Moon, but is happy to discuss topics ranging from the current shuttle mission ("a near miss") to human travel to Mars ("probable") and his detailing of an other-worldly "close encounter" which he believes could occur on Friday 13 April, 2029.
Then he adds more lightly: "The other possibility is that they'll fix it in short order and squeeze in the rest of the missions, about 19, before 2010."
On the proposed Moon landing, announced in January last year by President Bush, Aldrin says: "Between 2015 and 2020, I think that's highly do-able. If the flying of the CEV [crew exploration vehicle] is accelerated to 2011 or 2010, which they would like to do, it's conceivable. Maybe by 2018, with four people.
Of the mission to Mars also announced by Bush, Aldrin seems more reserved. Could it happen in my lifetime? "It's probable. Between 2030 and 2035 is reasonable, depending on how much we want to establish a degree of permanence of explorers, to then turn over to commercial activities on the Moon.

[Graeme]

Omar, Peak Oil is a political problem. Have a look at the latest news item I just posted. . .

[Graeme]

What is more astonishing is that when I went back to the site where I found the news item in question, it had been removed!

[Graeme]

Now scientists are really taking seriously he prospect of life on Mars. Look at this:

Is Methane The First Direct Sign Of Extra-Terrestrial Life?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')ugust 09, 2005
Are microbes making the methane that's been found on Mars, or does the hydrocarbon gas come from geological processes? It's the question that everybody wants to answer, but nobody can. What will it take to convince the jury? At this point, it's fair to say that many expert witnesses take the possibility of a biogenic source rather seriously.
For example, Vladimir Krasnopolsky, who led one of the teams that found methane on the planet, says, "Bacteria, I think, are plausible sources of methane on Mars, the most likely source." But he expects the microbes to be found in oases, "because the martian conditions are very hostile to life. I think these bacteria may exist in some locations where conditions are warm and wet." Then, all of a sudden, last year, they found methane in the atmosphere, and we suddenly have a piece of real scientific evidence saying that it's possible" that Mars is the second living planet.

[Graeme]

Armstrong: Mars Easier Voyage Than Moon

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')eil Armstrong said Tuesday that a manned mission to Mars will not happen for at least 20 years _ but the effort might be easier than what it took to send him to the moon in 1969.

The first man to walk on the moon noted that scientists must develop better onboard spacecraft technology and stronger protection shields from harmful space radiation before a manned flight to the Red Planet can be accomplished.

[Graeme]

The Next Mother Lode: Mars

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')pace entrepreneurs eyeing Mars as a hub of some future solar system economy launched a startup on Tuesday to mine the red planet for building materials.
The new company, 4Frontiers, plans to mine Mars for building materials and energy sources, and export the planet's mineral wealth to forthcoming space stations on the moon and elsewhere.
One plan is to build a full-scale version of the planned Mars settlement and charge visitors to tour the "Mars Settlement Research and Outreach Center." 4Frontiers hopes to have a site selected for the center by the end of this year, said company co-founder and CEO Mark Homnick.
"We've narrowed the search to New Mexico, Central Florida or Colorado," he said.

[Graeme]

New site features 'live' images from Mars

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A') new Web site at ASU provides the public and scientists “live” views of Mars. A scrolling panel that runs continually at http://themis.asu.edu shows visual and infrared images of Mars as they are received from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument on NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter spacecraft.