Evidence detected of lake beneath the surface of Mars

Way. Cool.

From a manned-mission point of view, a big and possibly accessible water source basically means breathable oxygen and rocket fuel.

Goody. We can go swimming when we move there.

old news

AirPo said:

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This is interesting but should be kept in perspective.
Because of the relatively dimunitive mass of Mars, gravity is insufficient in order to hold an atmosphere with sufficient pressure to hold liquid water on the surface. Water on the surface of Mars will boil at the ambient temperature and then dissipate away from the planet.
Water on Mars is in the solid form and any liquid water must necessarily be trapped in pockets under pressure/low temperature to maintain it in this state.
Any visions of possible surface bodies of water on Mars persisting long enough for life to thrive are fantasy.

Anguspure said:

This is interesting but should be kept in perspective.
Because of the relatively dimunitive mass of Mars, gravity is insufficient in order to hold an atmosphere with sufficient pressure to hold liquid water on the surface. Water in the surface of Mars will boil at the ambient temperature and then dissipate away from the planet.
Water on Mars is in the solid form and any liquid water must necessarily be trapped in pockets under pressure/low temperature to maintain it in this state.
Any visions of possible surface bodies of water on Mars persisting long enough for life to thrive are fantasy.

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So......no swimming?

OldWiseGuy said:

So......no swimming?

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Indoor pools.

OldWiseGuy said:

So......no swimming?

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Scuba diving could be fun!

AirPo said:

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This universe is full of water.
What does the Genesis 1 say? WHY does it say that?

juvenissun said:

This universe is full of water.
What does the Genesis 1 say? WHY does it say that?

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Genesis 1 doesn't say anything about water on other planets.

Warden_of_the_Storm said:

Genesis 1 doesn't say anything about water on other planets.

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In your limited understanding it doesn't.

Genesis 1:7
"And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so."

So let's decompose this verse. We find first of all that God made the firmament (the atmosphere around our planet). He then divided the water which was "UNDER" the firmament, from the water that was "ABOVE" the firmament.

This verse is often misinterpreted by Christians alike. He did not divide the waters that were "UNDER" the firmament from the waters that were "IN" the firmament. He divided the waters which were "ABOVE" the firmament.

Since the water "UNDER" the firmament are those on earth and the 3 ocean's worth of water below the earth, there is only one conclusion. That the waters "ABOVE" the firmament went to other planets, comets, asteroids, etc. Just like the waters "UNDER" the firmament went to earth and beneath it's surface. Hence dry land appeared because 3 ocean's worth were divided underground.

It is not dividing the water "IN" the firmament, but the waters "UNDER" and "ABOVE" it.

This is the place where you will enter into cognitive dissonance mode. But don't feel bad, 75% of people will follow you into it as well.

AirPo said:

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Any extra evidence on the ultimate habitability of Mars by humans is of course always welcome

But we already knew that there was a lot of water ice. This water is probably not ice only because extremely salty. Also it is buried beneath an ice cap or at very least thick permafrost. To extract it, refine it and then pipe it somewhere useful like a Mars base may well be more expensive than simply melting surface ice.

mindlight said:

Any extra evidence on the ultimate habitability of Mars by humans is of course always welcome

But we already knew that there was a lot of water ice. This water is probably not ice only because extremely salty. Also it is buried beneath an ice cap or at very least thick permafrost. To extract it, refine it and then pipe it somewhere useful like a Mars base may well be more expensive than simply melting surface ice.

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As long as people didn't mind living in a tin can all their lives we could do so now. We have the technology, it is simply a matter of cost versus need/gain. Now if we discovered billions in gold or oil, I am sure we'd have a habitat set up there in no time.

Anguspure said:

Because of the relatively dimunitive mass of Mars, gravity is insufficient in order to hold an atmosphere with sufficient pressure to hold liquid water on the surface.

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There's a number of pieces of evidence pointing to Mars having a thicker atmosphere in the past that has since been blown into intrastellar space by the solar wind.

Any visions of possible surface bodies of water on Mars persisting long enough for life to thrive are fantasy.

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No one postulating life on Mars is talking about Barsoomians running around. Don't forget there are many things that live deep within the earth.

USincognito said:

There's a number of pieces of evidence pointing to Mars having a thicker atmosphere in the past that has since been blown into intrastellar space by the solar wind.

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Yes there is. Also there is strong evidence for Mars having large bodies of surface water. So given the actual physical facts, simple physics mathematics; what might account for the observed evidence? Certainly nothing persisted for the billions of years that life development has taken on Earth. On the other hand 6 days might have been long enough....

No one postulating life on Mars is talking about Barsoomians running around. Don't forget there are many things that live deep within the earth.

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On the other hand a few micro-organisms would justify wild speculation about the millions of Baroomians that must surely exist everywhere else in the Universe and.....

Ship = Tin can
Habitat Shelters = Tin Cans

Out of one tin can and into the other.

majj27 said:

Way. Cool.

From a manned-mission point of view, a big and possibly accessible water source basically means breathable oxygen and rocket fuel.

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There is plenty of water at the Martian poles.

The second part comprises steep slopes known as scarps, made almost entirely of water ice, that ring and fall away from the polar cap to the surrounding plains.[9] The third part encompasses the vast permafrost fields that stretch for tens of kilometres away from the scarps, and is not obviously part of the cap until the surface composition is analysed.[9][177] NASA scientists calculate that the volume of water ice in the south polar ice cap, if melted, would be sufficient to cover the entire planetary surface to a depth of 11 meters (36 ft).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_on_Mars

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The entire surface of Mars would be inundated thirty-six feet deep if the water at the ice-caps were made liquid. Not bad!

Radrook said:

There is plenty of water at the Martian poles.
The entire surface of Mars would be inundated thirty-six feet deep if the water at the ice-caps were made liquid. Not bad!

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It would all boil off in a very short time.