We Can Now Get a Scotch on the Rocks on Mars
June 21st, 2008 at 12:30am Mark Noonan
‘Cause there’s ice in them thar hills:
The existence of ice on Mars was confirmed today by NASA scientists, the first time frozen water has been sampled on another planet. Water in liquid form is an essential ingredient for life.
Whitish, dice-sized chunks, which were dug from the rocky red soil and warmed in the sun, vanished four days after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Phoenix probe dug them up June 15. They confirm what NASA satellites have suggested for years: Frozen water exists several centimeters beneath Mars’s surface.
Scientists believe ice exists on planets including Pluto, though Phoenix is the first probe to confirm it on the ground. The survey is part of NASA’s theme in Mars exploration: follow the water.
“We’ve hit what we’re looking for,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station and co-investigator on the NASA project. “The job now is to find out what’s mixed in with the ice.” He spoke at a press conference in Tucson, Arizona.
Now that we’ve found ice, I imagine that one day we might even find liquid water out there, and that opens up the prospect of finding life, even if only microbial. Question for the day: Given that it is next to impossible for life to be around at all on any one planet, would the existence of life on two planets right next to each other in one solar system indicate a design in nature?
Entry Filed under: Science
12 Comments
1. Freedom1 | June 21st, 2008 at 12:41 am
Ice on Mars. This is so cool! Way to go NASA!
2. Bob Dole | June 21st, 2008 at 1:34 am
Seriously, you boggle the mind. The presence of water is enough for you to jump to the conclusion “There must be life”, and the presence of life on two planets means “Life must be intelligently designed, because it’s so uncommon”? If water is all that’s necessary for life, there can’t be very much that’s rare about it.
3. OpChaosUK | June 21st, 2008 at 2:12 am
Mark, you’re gonna rile up all the Darwinist kooks with this one…
4. kjstrouble | June 21st, 2008 at 2:18 am
And who said intelligent design precludes evolution?
5. The New Conservative | June 21st, 2008 at 2:47 am
Great millions of dollars to find ice on Mars. If I want ice I’ll go to my freezer. Tell me if they find that little martian from the Warner Bros. cartoons.
http://thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/
6. Mark Noonan | June 21st, 2008 at 3:09 am
Bob,
Errr, I said that it means there may be liquid water and that means there may be life..I think I’m on pretty firm ground here. And then the question - put out for our entertainment and edification - about if life exists on two neighboring planets, does this indicate a design in nature.
You really should pay attention to what I write, before you comment, ya know?
7. OpChaosUK | June 21st, 2008 at 3:40 am
You really should pay attention to what I write, before you comment, ya know?
Advice that hasn’t been taken in my five years here, Mark. I’d give up on these kooks if I were you…
8. OpChaosUK | June 21st, 2008 at 4:06 am
OT:
Mark, did you delete the comment someone made about Reagan? I read it in one of these threads just a few minutes ago and I can’t find it.
9. OpChaosUK | June 21st, 2008 at 4:09 am
Never mind, Mark; I found it. It was a hoax, and one of our libtards bought it hook, line, and sinker.
Dumbed-down by hatred, they are…
10. Want.War?ENLIST! | June 21st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Using hundreds of millions in taxpayer money to maybe find some bacteria 60million+ miles away sounds rather socialist to me.
11. Rana Quijotesca | June 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
ENLIST-
you probably don’t know what socialism is if you think that.
Everyone else-
I don’t think that the fact that heat dissipates over distance (making the window of opportunity for life a certain area from the sun) necessitates an intelligent designer… it’s just physics…
Ice on Mars is really cool, but if someone finds Scotch on Mars, I will really be amazed…
12. What? | June 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 am
Mark writes:
“Given that it is next to impossible for life to be around at all on any one planet, would the existence of life on two planets right next to each other in one solar system indicate a design in nature?”
No.
Follow up question: Where the F*** did this question come from? Why are you trying to shoehorn God into this discussion?
It is no more possible for life to be on two neighboring planets than it is for life to be found on planets a great distance from each other. In fact, it is more likely life would be found on Mars than any other place we have been in the galaxy.