Evidence of Glaciers on Mars? 203
cyclop writes "Nature reports that the Mars Express mission has photographed evidence of ancient glaciers on Mars. It seems glaciers have sculpted valleys on the red planet, much like on Earth." Reader macguys writes "Space.com is reporting that the Mars Rover Opportunity has received an unexpected and unexplained power boost of between 2 and 5 percent. The NASA Rover site is so far silent on the boost."
Power Boost (Score:4, Interesting)
What's Your Prediction? (Score:5, Interesting)
It should be like the site that let everyone bet when the next big version of Linux was coming.
It'd be good clean fun for geeks,
Brandon Petersen
Get Firefox! [spreadfirefox.com]
Re:Why Mars? (Score:5, Interesting)
The ability to survive on the moon will require constant importing. It will need water. Nor will it be possible to colonize the moon to any great length.
Mars, OTH, can be truely colonized. It has water, O2, N2, Carbon, etc. It has everything needed, except that it has a thin atmosphere. It is possible that Mars actually has life on it as well.
Finally, how does this impact us (america or even the earth) today? Every time that mankind reaches, it has to develop new ideas and new things. these will always be applied elsewhere. NASA (and I believe the USSR's space program) caused numerous advances for humans, both directly and more indirectly.
Re:it seems... (Score:5, Interesting)
>have used all their possible oxygen(assuming they
>brethed it of course), and having nothing to
>reproduce the oxygen, just kinda bounced off the
>planet?
Uh... no. O2 is a byproduct of photosynthesis (well, more specifically, the electron transport chain in the tylakoid that obtains electrons from water to create reduced NAD(P)H, but that's splitting hairs). Life existed for a long time on Earth without atmospheric oxygen. In fact, the apparition of massive quantities of oxygen in the atmosphere was probably a disaster of cataclysmic proportions for many living cells back then (dead cells being notoriously unaffected by changes in the environment).
The fact that there's so much aerobic life as of today (there're still plenty of O2-less ecosystems out there) is just that organisms adapted to those rude algae and plants making O2 like crazy. It's by no means a requirement for life.
Should read: Some new results on Mars glaciation (Score:4, Interesting)
This is not a new result. It has long been observed that some valley deposits on Mars resemble glacial morains. By far the best evidence for glaciation on Mars is at its north pole [nasa.gov] and it is well documented.
The increasing power levels of the Mars rovers is explained by the lengthening daylight hours in the Mars northern hemisphere spring. What is surprising is that the solar panels may be being cleaned by wind action.
wipers (Score:0, Interesting)
Re:Power Boost (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:glacial valleys verses river valleys (Score:5, Interesting)
Glaciers carve rounded "U"-shaped valleys while rivers make pointed "V"-shaped valleys.
This does not take account of the uniquely Martian process of sapping [nasa.gov] which also creates U shaped valleys in dendritic, presumably fluvial valley systems. We need to be carefull about infering process from morphology alone.
Re:Power Boost (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Why Mars? (Score:2, Interesting)
Unfortunately, terra-forming Mars is all but impossible due to the lack of a strong magnetosphere, which allowed the solar wind to strip the atmosphere in the first place. Then there is the issue of a surface soil which is radioactive from billions of years of exposure.
IMO, the best use of resources would be towards the continued development of space stations and launch/reentry technologies. At a minimum it is the first step in colonizing space.
Re:That means... (Score:2, Interesting)
Them: "blah blah and the meek shall inherit the Earth..."
You: "Yeah, what's left of it."
Re:glacial valleys verses river valleys (Score:3, Interesting)
Ok! I am also a geologist (Cornell 1986). Good to find a kindred spirit. Theoretically speaking, a flowing fluid will try to create a cross sectional shape than minimizes drag. I think of this as the glacier following the principle of least action. That cross sectional shape is a semi circle. U-shape to me suggests that. A second order polynomial is a parabola. In low gradient fluvial systems with a deep channel you often see a parabolic cross section. I think that may be an equilibrium cross section when you consider that water levels, and thus erosion potential, rise and fall.
Re:glacial valleys verses river valleys (Score:3, Interesting)
But a system with friction isn't conservative, so the principle doesn't apply does it? (Or am I being a moron?) Interesting thought anyway.