Friday, March 16, 2007

Water on Mars

Did you hear they'd discovered huge amounts of water on Mars? Buried in all the news of yesterday was that tiny item, that the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter had found a stash of ice at one of the poles about 11 kilometers deep--a resource that would cover the entire planet, if unfrozen, with thirty-six feet of water! I predict that over the course of the centuries to come--assuming that there are some for us Earthlings--this discovery will prove more important to the history of humankind that all of the disasters cooked up by our current president.



We know the story of how life as we know it crawled out of the water--at least those of us who don't believe that God created the world and all its creatures in a single week six thousand years ago. We also know that all life forms (is that true--all?) depend on water. But I'm thinking more about the future, when our species might well need that water for its own extraterrestrial survival. When we bolt the hole we have polluted beyond habitability, will we be seeking other places to despoil? Knowing us, I think we might. And all that Martian water could certainly come in handy.

That's all for today. Back to the taxes. Have a good weekend, all!

3 comments:

Mark said...

I've heard about water on mars too, but there is a rebuttal for the fact that there may have been water. In a process called sublimation, which occurs when temperatures are lower than you or I care to imagine, the molecules in the air get so cold so quickly that they go straight from air to ice with no water in the middle. Perhaps there was water on Mars, perhaps not. Perhaps it's just air that sublimated. I don't know if sublimated air can be thawed out into water or whether it just goes back to its original state. Either way, a very cool scientific find.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh my friend, you came across the first situation, our 'home'. We need to take care of that first before we get goofie on ourselves. We can't even take care of our own planet, and until we can or do, going elsewhere will serve no purpose. It's like buying an acre of pristine land, tons of trees and wildlife on it. Cutting down all the trees, building a home, shooting all the wildlife to put in the freezer, tilling the soil, planting on it, but not rotating crops or letting it rest, living in the house but not cleaning it, or taking care of repairs, and using all the wood you cut down in the fireplace, letting it rise to pollute the air. Now, after 20 years what do you have? I sure wouldn't want it... Yet given another 15 to 20 years, it can be brought back, plus, a decent place to live, trees and all. Maybe the birds might even come back, along with the squirrels. You might have to import the deer or whatever else you killed to accommodate yourself, but it can be done. Let's bring our 'home' back into balance before we seek out new avenues to destroy another... Have a pleasant afternoon Peter:).

Peter Clothier said...

Yup! PaL