NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Water On Mars

[Purveyor]

By Alok Jha, The Guardian
Thursday, September 26, 2013 18:12 EDT

Dirt sample reveals two pints of liquid water per cubic feet, not freely accessible but bound to other minerals in the soil

Water has been discovered in the fine-grained soil on the surface of Mars, which could be a useful resource for future human missions to the red planet, according to measurements made by NASA’s Curiosity rover.

Each cubic foot of Martian soil contains around two pints of liquid water, though the molecules are not freely accessible, but rather bound to other minerals in the soil.


The Curiosity rover has been on Mars since August 2012, landing in an area near the equator of the planet known as Gale Crater. Its target is to circle and climb Mount Sharp, which lies at the centre of the crater, a five-kilometre-high mountain of layered rock that will help scientists unravel the history of the planet.

Last night NASA scientists published a series of five papers in the journal Science, which detail the experiments carried out by the various scientific instruments aboard Curiosity in its first four months on the martian surface. Though highlights from the year-long mission have been released at conferences and NASA press conferences, these are the first set of formal, peer-reviewed results from the Curiosity mission.

“We tend to think of Mars as this dry place – to find water fairly easy to get out of the soil at the surface was exciting to me,” said Laurie Leshin, dean of science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and lead author on the Science paper which confirmed the existence of water in the soil. “If you took about a cubic foot of the dirt and heated it up, you’d get a couple of pints of water out of that – a couple of water bottles’ worth that you would take to the gym.”

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/09/26/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-water-on-mars/

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Purveyor.

[Puzzledtraveller]

2. In other news Nestle's claims rights and plans to bottle it.

[derby378]

3. DUzy!

[mindwalker_i]

4. I'm all for that if...

They send me to go get it!

[NealK]

23. Lol!

[madrchsod]

29. !....+1

[zappaman]

5. Uh oh

[Liberalynn]

13. +1

[Buns_of_Fire]

6. THIS... is a big deal! nt

[PCIntern]

7. Did you know that the Curiosity Rover utlizes a Cryogenic Cooler made in Israel? On a kibbutz?

Since DU seems to have more than a couple of threads decrying Israel, I thought it might be helpful to highlight a few...no...many, of the positives which have been ascribed to Israel and Israelis.

More...much more...later.

[Purveyor]

8. Have fun. It's all good... eom

[greiner3]

11. Now what was that comedian's take;

On someone writing a book on Jewish sports figures?

I believe it went something like;

"...and it would only contain 2 pages."

Human beings are, well, human beings.

[Buns_of_Fire]

19. "Airplane!", I think.

As part of the reading material during the flight, they offered a pamphlet on "Greatest Jewish Sports Legends". That was after the shot of the magazine rack in the terminal containing "stroking material", but before Otto got reinflated through the tube on his belt.

And don't call me Shirley.

[awoke_in_2003]

24. You ever see a grown man naked? nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

12. "Since DU seems to have more than a couple of threads decrying Israel"

Just their Right Wing policies.

There is actually a very strong Liberal peace movement there as well.

[Scuba]

17. +1 for the Israeli peace movement.

[eridani]

18. Not to mention which, there is more criticism of those policies in Ha'aretz--

--than in WaPo or NYT.

[PCIntern]

21. nuh uh uh uh...

Threads entitled: 'Fuck Israel" are rather non-specific, would you not say? There are quite a few of those and their ilk. I, for one, can read.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Don't judge a thread by it's title....

Especially in a place like this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023730694

[SidDithers]

15. We'll done...

Particularly in this thread.



Sid

[sulphurdunn]

28. This is a false equivalency fallacy.

Israelis who invent parts for space probes are intelligent, modern people. They should not be used as cover for savages who practice ethnic cleansing in the name of an ancient tribal god.

[DirkGently]

9. Excellent. Let the colonization begin. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

10. K&R

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. Uh oh....

[KoKo]

16. Good! More Money for Nestle, Corp....

Cynic that I am.

[edbermac]

20. "Oh, goody!"

"Now I won't have to blow up the Earth!"

[kentuck]

25. Unbelievable!

That's almost enough water to make mud pies...

[skepticscott]

26. if the water is

"bound to other minerals in the soil" then it's NOT liquid water.

[morningfog]

27. “If you took about a cubic foot of the dirt and heated it up, you’d get a couple of pints of water."

[skepticscott]

30. If you took a block of ice and heated it up

you'd get water too, but the ice is still not liquid water when you start, like they claim here..