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NASA Finds Evidence of Recent Flowing Water on Mars

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wed Dec 06, 2006 04:11 PM
from the some-bound-to-claim-theory-is-all-wet dept.
NASA Mars Space
SonicSpike writes to mention that Scientists are claiming that they have evidence of water flowing on Mars within the last five years. From the article: "Subsurface aquifers or melting ground ice were floated as possible sources of the water. One of the springs even appears at a fault line, according to Malin, just as they often do on Earth. The shortness of the gulleys, which seem to flow for but a few hundred yards, might be accounted for by a process similar to a volcano's eruption on Earth, with water instead of magma building up underground, and ice, instead of fire, characterizing the resulting flow."
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  • I bet.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by xx01dk (191137)
    they are going to be looking at a lot of before / after pictures now. I'm looking forward to as well. Very interesting.

    • Lots More Pictures (Score:5, Informative)

      by Alien54 (180860) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @05:02PM (#17137486) Journal
      This has also been picked up [dailymail.co.uk] by the major media [msn.com].

      On a side note [slashdot.org], the HiRISE team [uanews.org] is now posting new large images [arizona.edu] on the HiRISE Website [arizona.edu] every week on Wednesday. (A file size and format warning is needed. The full super high resolution photo of the Opportunity landing site [arizona.edu] is 677 MBytes in JP2 format)

      Of course, there are some pics that I wouldn't mind a little more investigation on. I happen to be interested in something I call Gulliver's Golf Ball [usgs.gov], something that looks like a perfect sphere, roughly 200 meters across.

      • Mod parent up (Score:4, Insightful)

        by zeromorph (1009305) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:48PM (#17137228)
        They just need more funding.

        You probably can't get closer to the reality. BBC [bbc.co.uk] is reporting it too and there they say:

        "Other scientists think it possible that gullies like this were caused not by water but by liquid carbon dioxide.

        One of the reasons for favouring CO2 was that computer models of the Martian crust indicated water could exist only at depths of several kilometres. Liquid carbon dioxide, on the other hand, could persist much nearer the surface where temperatures can drop as low as -107C."

        But for funding it just has to be water, that's science and that's sad.
        (I don't blame them, I know game too, different league, same rules.)

      • They just need more funding.
        Funny, that's what every government agency says all of the time.

  • INNACURATE! This is Hype! (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:14PM (#17136614)
    Keep your pants on:

    "Nothing in the images, no matter how cool they are, proves that the flows were wet, or that they were anything more exciting than avalanches of sand and dust," Allan Treiman, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston said in an e-mail.

    nuff said.

    Get your ass to Mars

    • Yesterday on Technocrat there was an announcement [technocrat.net] about the upcoming NASA press conference. NASA has kept nerds in suspense for utterly minor announcements before, so I wasn't expecting much from the announcement. Indeed, anything as important as the discovery of life (or, rather, the discovery of fossils of life) would probably have leaked out before and be all over the news.

      But this announcement is cool because it means that Kim Stanley Robinson's trilogy beginning with Red Mars [amazon.com] , undoubtedly the most i

    • Re:INNACURATE! This is Hype! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Chelloveck (14643) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @05:31PM (#17137940) Homepage
      "Nothing in the images, no matter how cool they are, proves that the flows were wet, or that they were anything more exciting than avalanches of sand and dust," Allan Treiman, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston said in an e-mail.

      Well, yes, but according to the scientists at the press conference all disturbances of the martian soil so far have shown up as darker than the undisturbed soil, not lighter as these images show. Also, the shapes of the light spots are more consistent with those a relatively thick muddy liquid would make than with what you'd see in a landslide. They did allow that yes, these images could be showing some previously unseen dry phenomenon, but that the shapes and color are both indicative of liquid.

      • Re:INNACURATE! This is Hype! (Score:5, Funny)

        by j00r0m4nc3r (959816) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:44PM (#17137166)
        But, I agree, let's send someone up to take a look and find out.

        Did you just volunteer?
            • but I wouldn't risk my life on one of their trips to Mars - their track record isn't stellar.

              That's correct! Their track record is currently only interplanetary. We're still arguably at the dawn of space travel (assuming there's a whole day of space travel ahead of us, otherwise we're not even at the dawn of space travel). Therefore we have no stellar flight, only interplanetary. Perhaps you were just born into the wrong century?

          • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

            by Anonymous Coward
            I daresay you could recruit an entire colony's worth of volunteers from /. alone...

            You could only recruit half a colony. Colonies need women, you know!

  • Um, that wasn't water. I had had a lot of juice earlier, and there wasn't a gas station or anything to be found... sorry about that.
  • Not just scientists, but Scientists with a capital S!

    This looks like the real deal. It appears that it's being reported everywhere; CNN, etc. When I saw the original article I was slightly skeptical, but NASA ain't screwing around, it appears.

    • I am OP (Score:4, Informative)

      by SonicSpike (242293) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:57PM (#17137398) Homepage Journal
      I am the original poster and the summary or even the link is NOTHING like I submitted. I guess the /. editors take 'editorial liberty' to the extreme! No resemblence to the orignal at all.

      Oh well, at least I got credit for it and good karma ;-)

  • Hmmm, how to get a closer look? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DumbSwede (521261) <slashdotbin@hotmail.com> on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:17PM (#17136678) Homepage Journal
    It would be cool if NASA could keep a few micro-probes in reserve in Mars orbit that could be de-orbited as needed to investigate these kinds of phenomenon as they are discovered. Nothing large and complicated like a rover, just a very hi-resolution camera and some very basic devices to measure the local environment. The real trick would be getting pinpoint accuracy on the landing. To save weight and increase simplicity they need not even be designed to survive landing, just to deliver a high speed data squirt to an orbiter as they collect the most relevant and valuable data on their way down by parachute. If they do survive the landing they only need enough power to last long enough to send a few more surface condition measurements -- again the emphasis on cheap and expendable.

    At the other end of the scale we need to develop landers that can investigate hard to get to locations like the very bottom of Valles Marineris. I assume this is where what little atmosphere there is would be the most dense, warm, and possibly moist. This would also be the most sheltered location on Mars from all forms of ionizing radiation.

  • The rush to colonize (Score:4, Funny)

    by Walt Dismal (534799) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:18PM (#17136692)
    In related news, Starbucks announced it is booking passage on the next flight to the Red Planet. "This enables us to continue our mission of providing coffee to the races of the solar system," said its CEO. "I look forward to asking our first Martian customer, 'Would you like a double mocha latte, Mr. Xzart'FooKniznak?'

    • Reminds me of Conan O'Brien's "In the Year 2000" skit where he foretells:

      In the year 2000, McDonald's will be forced to close its restaurant on Mars, due to the high cost of shipping acne to its workers.

  • coast 2 coast (Score:3, Informative)

    by deft (253558) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:20PM (#17136726) Homepage
    Richard Hoagland (sp?) was talking about this last night on coast 2 coast... the radio show normally infested with funny alien abductees and anal probe recipients.

    He apparently had seen this stuff in mars rover pictures and predicted it.... guess nasa has finally came to the same conclusion.

    I bet they were just more thorough or cautious in their analysis before declaring anything.

    • Re: (sp?) (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You, in fact, did spell his name incorrectly. The correct spelling of his name is as follows:

      W-h-a-c-k J-o-b

    • Re:coast 2 coast (Score:5, Funny)

      by dr_dank (472072) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:44PM (#17137162) Homepage Journal
      He apparently had seen this stuff in mars rover pictures and predicted it.... guess nasa has finally came to the same conclusion.

      Actually, the water is really the face on Mars [nasa.gov] crying.

      Probably because of something you did.
    • I bet they were just more thorough or cautious in their analysis before declaring anything.

      NASA is more cautious than anal-probe radio-show guy?

      What a bunch of pansies! That's no way to do science.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by MtViewGuy (197597)
      The possibility of water on Mars was confirmed in 1971 when Mariner 9 discovered ancient river valleys at several places on the planet. Since then, the conjecture was always how long ago did Mars have liquid water on the surface of the planet.

  • Flow Means Bi-directional Movement (Score:5, Interesting)

    by moehoward (668736) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:21PM (#17136750)

    For water to flow, it has to have gotten to the source of the flow first. So, there has to be a mechanism for transport back to the source of the flow. Like rain moves water on Earth back to higher ground. The article offers no speculation on this transport mechanism. I would, of course, suspect evaporation and then dew/frost. But, that would be picked up easily from our probes and even from Earth-based observation.

    What am I missing here?
  • Move over, Dasani, Poland Spring, and Evian... Here comes Lunar Liquid!

    • Re:Move over... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:25PM (#17136840)
      Move over, Dasani, Poland Spring, and Evian... Here comes Lunar Liquid!

      Thats no moon.
    • Move over, Dasani, Poland Spring, and Evian... Here comes Lunar Liquid!
      Martian Martini?

  • Funny (Score:3, Interesting)

    by edwardpickman (965122) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:23PM (#17136812)
    There's been pictures indicating recent water flowing for years. Guess the evidence got overwhelming. There's been also strong evidence of seasonal darkening as if the ground was damp during summer months. I found a camera shot years ago that showed the ground next to the rover that seemed to show a patch of water maybe the size of your palm. The ground around that was dark. NASA definately suffers from dogma. The current dogma had been for a dry Mars. Just glad they are surrendering finally and accepting the evidence. Given the resistence to change I think it'll take samples brought back from Mars to prove life. There was evidence as far back as Viking but still no missions looking for direct signs of life. I'd love to see that resolved during my lifetime but I have my doubts. It may have to wait for the manned mission and even then there'll be debate for years if something is found if NASA brought it there themselves.

    • Re:Funny (Score:4, Insightful)

      by NeutronCowboy (896098) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:32PM (#17136964)
      I don't think NASA suffered from Dogma - more of an abundance of caution. Even know, I don't know how they can tell that the structures seen in the pictures are actual water, and not just sand that behaves similarly to a liquid.

      Personally, I'll believe the H2O theory when someone actually pokes one of those areas, and they find water in either ice or liquid form.

  • Not 100% (Score:5, Informative)

    by silentounce (1004459) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:25PM (#17136832) Homepage
    Not all scientists are convinced that it was actually water.
     
    "Many scientists believe the gullies were carved by liquid water, although others have argued they are due to avalanches of carbon dioxide gas or rivers of dust," from The New Scientist [newscientist.com].
     
      Also, here [nasa.gov] is the NASA release from their site.

  • Not quite on the surface (Score:5, Informative)

    by LiquidCoooled (634315) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:25PM (#17136852) Homepage Journal
    If you look at the high res images (from NASA here [nasa.gov])
    You can see the flow emerges from the side of an impact crater.
    The water was most likely locked underground (as expected by the briney moist soil effect the rovers noticed just under the surface)

    Its like diggign a hole in the sand at the beach, eventually water will start to seep in.
  • If they have found water on Mars this could send the price of water down.
  • What's that white stuff around the crater's rim? Is that just a trick of the light? If it's not could whatever it is be the same material as the 'flow?' It has a similar intensity to the light-colored 'flow.'

  • Dan Quayle reportedly excited, gasping (Score:4, Funny)

    by HTH NE1 (675604) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:36PM (#17137050)
    "Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen that means we can breathe." -- Dan Quayle, 8/11/89

  • To all sceptics: here's proof (Score:5, Funny)

    by olden (772043) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @04:57PM (#17137400)
    A photo that Nasa published over a year ago already unquestionably demonstrated the existence of water on Mars, see http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050401.html [nasa.gov]
    (And if you're still not convinced you can even try this at home...)

  • There's a party over there (Score:3, Funny)

    by StikyPad (445176) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @05:01PM (#17137464) Homepage
    This sounds like every party, ever.

    "Aw man, I can't believe you left our chess club bash last night. FIVE MINUTES after you left, the entire cheerleader squad stumbled in and started making some unconventional moves with the bishops!"

    "Dude, you JUST missed it. The keg floated FIVE MINUTES ago, and the stores are all closed now."

    "Man, I'm telling you, the water was just here FIVE YEARS ago. What took your ass so long to get here?!?"

  • One man knows the answer (Score:3, Funny)

    by eebra82 (907996) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @05:18PM (#17137722) Homepage
    Great, who's couch is Tom Cruise going to ruin this time over this finding? Maybe Scientology was right after all.

  • One more puzzle piece (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jespley (1006115) on Wednesday December 06 2006, @05:45PM (#17138176)
    For what it's worth, I should point out that this is perfectly consistent with the story that's been gradually developing over the years. We know that there are substantial amounts of hydrogen in the first few meters of most of the Martian crust (cf. the MO Gamma-ray spectrometer) and hence there is likely water ice there. We know that in the distance past large quantities of liquid water flowed on the surface to carve the fluvial geomorphological features we see (cf. MGS MOC images). We know that liquid water sloshed in at least some areas to form certain minerals (cf. MER results). We've seen gullies on the sides of craters that looked recent (cf. MGS MOC images). And now this study which shows gullies being created over the timeframe of a few Earth years. Basically, this is just one more little increment in our understanding of the distribution of water on Mars. This is how science usually works but sometimes press releases unduly hype things.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by silentounce (1004459)
      That moon base plan has been the works for a long time, but the timing of the announcements may not be a coincidence.
    • Golly! You're right! As the electron shells of the copper molecules in the impacter neared the electron shells in the molecules of Tempel 1, their mutual repulsion forced the crater to form.

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