Water Discovery Is Good News For Mars Colonists 247
astroengine writes "By now, we probably all know that there was once significant quantities of water on the Martian surface and, although the red planet is bone dry by terrestrial standards, water persists as ice just below the surface to this day. Now, according to a series of new papers published in the journal Science, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity has found that the Mars topsoil is laced with surprisingly high quantities of the wet stuff. And this could be good news for future Mars colonists. 'If you take a cubic foot of that soil you can basically get two pints of water out it — a couple of water bottles like you'd take to the gym, worth of water,' Curiosity scientist Laurie Leshin, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, N.Y., told Discovery News."
water bottles like you'd take to the gym? (Score:4, Insightful)
I know that US public education is going to hell, but do we really need articles to explain what a pint is?
How much is that in shot glasses? (Score:5, Insightful)
I thought since a certain missed orbital maneuver, people talking about Mars had agreed to only use metric...
Re:Colonists will be great. (Score:5, Insightful)
Not just a matter of values but of fear of risk. Risk tolerance has become quite low and seems to just be getting worst as the place gets safer and the perception of the world gets smaller.
Re:water bottles like you'd take to the gym? (Score:3, Insightful)
A fraction by weight of a quantity specified by volume? Brilliant...
Re:water bottles like you'd take to the gym? (Score:5, Insightful)
'If you take a cubic foot of that soil you can basically get two beer glasses-worth of water out it'
I think that's pretty much an international standard, right?
Not everything must have "practical value." (Score:4, Insightful)
Not every human endeavor must have "practical value." You must be a lot of fun at parties. I'm just kidding, you obviously don't got to parties because they are an endless money/resource sink with no practical value.
Re:water bottles like you'd take to the gym? (Score:5, Insightful)
The average American kid probably knows better what a pint is better than what a gym is, or what kind of bottle you'd bring to one.
Re:That's a whole lot of dirt, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Less than 1/1000 of common water is dissolved oxygen. Common air is about 20% oxygen. You would need around 200 pints of water for 1 breath of air. The water on mars probably contains even less dissolved oxygen.
Electrolysis to split the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen is very energy expensive. Oxygen is very easy to compress and ship in tanks. Water is difficult to compress, and is heavy and difficult to ship.
Being able to source drinking water from Mars is much more important and practical than trying to use that water for anything else.
I suspect that an established, long-term colony on Mars would be more interested in splitting water for oxygen and fuel than shipping air from earth. But I agree that this may not be terribly practical with current technology. I've seen solar powered electrolysis rigs, but the output is comparatively tiny. Perhaps that there fusion power that I hear tell is (still) 50 years away might provide a solution. Fuse hydrogen to generate the energy required to split water molecules for more hydrogen fuel and oxygen to breathe.
Of course, another way to turn water into oxygen is grow things with it.