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Are the rovers too far away to drive there and check up on it? It's amazing to me that it has taken us so long to arrive at such a tentative result on the exist

by nonsequ 13y ago

Are the rovers too far away to drive there and check up on it? It's amazing to me that it has taken us so long to arrive at such a tentative result on the existence of water on Mars. In a weird way, I find it heartening that there are such unexplained frontiers facing humankind, places where we still grope around blindly.

Blahah 13y ago
You're obviously not a scientist. If you were, you'd know we're groping around blindly on all sorts of frontiers :).
- JonSkeptic 13y ago
  [insert pun exerting parallel between science and teenager on a date] Hay-o!
gus_massa 13y ago
The surface of Mars is approximately equal to the land surface of Earth. It’s big. http://www.msl-chemcam.com/index.php?menu=inc&page_consult=textes&rubrique=66&sousrubrique=234&soussousrubrique=0&titre_url=Education http://www.msl-chemcam.com/index.php?menu=inc&page_consult=t... - Mars 101#.UvuUrHbfMdc We have there only ¿three? moving robots there, but IIRC one is not moving and one is not working. And there are some (maybe 10) full static platforms, but I don’t know if any of them is working now.
- cecilpl 13y ago
  There are four rovers that have successfully moved around. Sojourner stopped working in 1997, Spirit stopped working in 2010, and both Opportunity and Curiosity are still moving around.
nollidge 13y ago
In its first year on Mars, Curiosity only travelled about 1.6 kilometers. So I imagine it'd have to be pretty damn close for them to risk driving her over there. EDIT: source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/06/tech/innovation/mars-curiosity-anniversary/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/06/tech/innovation/mars-curiosity...
lutusp 13y ago
> It's amazing to me that it has taken us so long to arrive at such a tentative result on the existence of water on Mars. The article is completely misleading. The presence of water on Mars is not remotely controversial -- it has been detected in a dozen different ways. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars Quote: "Water on Mars exists today almost exclusively as ice, with a small amount present in the atmosphere as vapour.[1] The only place where water ice is visible at the surface is at the north polar ice cap.[2] However, abundant water ice is also present beneath the permanent carbon dioxide ice cap at the Martian south pole and in the shallow subsurface at more temperate latitudes.[3][4][5][6] More than five million cubic kilometers of ice have been identified at or near the surface of modern Mars, enough to cover the whole planet to a depth of 35 meters.[7] Even more ice is likely to be locked away in the deep subsurface.[8]"

by nonsequ 13y ago

Blahah 13y ago

You're obviously not a scientist. If you were, you'd know we're groping around blindly on all sorts of frontiers :).

JonSkeptic 13y ago
[insert pun exerting parallel between science and teenager on a date] Hay-o!

gus_massa 13y ago

The surface of Mars is approximately equal to the land surface of Earth. It’s big. http://www.msl-chemcam.com/index.php?menu=inc&page_consult=textes&rubrique=66&sousrubrique=234&soussousrubrique=0&titre_url=Education http://www.msl-chemcam.com/index.php?menu=inc&page_consult=t... - Mars 101#.UvuUrHbfMdc We have there only ¿three? moving robots there, but IIRC one is not moving and one is not working. And there are some (maybe 10) full static platforms, but I don’t know if any of them is working now.

cecilpl 13y ago
There are four rovers that have successfully moved around. Sojourner stopped working in 1997, Spirit stopped working in 2010, and both Opportunity and Curiosity are still moving around.

nollidge 13y ago

In its first year on Mars, Curiosity only travelled about 1.6 kilometers. So I imagine it'd have to be pretty damn close for them to risk driving her over there. EDIT: source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/06/tech/innovation/mars-curiosity-anniversary/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/06/tech/innovation/mars-curiosity...

lutusp 13y ago

> It's amazing to me that it has taken us so long to arrive at such a tentative result on the existence of water on Mars. The article is completely misleading. The presence of water on Mars is not remotely controversial -- it has been detected in a dozen different ways. Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars Quote: "Water on Mars exists today almost exclusively as ice, with a small amount present in the atmosphere as vapour.[1] The only place where water ice is visible at the surface is at the north polar ice cap.[2] However, abundant water ice is also present beneath the permanent carbon dioxide ice cap at the Martian south pole and in the shallow subsurface at more temperate latitudes.[3][4][5][6] More than five million cubic kilometers of ice have been identified at or near the surface of modern Mars, enough to cover the whole planet to a depth of 35 meters.[7] Even more ice is likely to be locked away in the deep subsurface.[8]"