Curiosity - Mars landing

[annielaurie]

Here's a link on the NASA website to all the pics Curiosity has been beaming back since the other night, enjoy!

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/m ... vents.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The one you've posted is included, Nova!

[AnimalMother]

Thanks for the link - some fascinating photos there!

[AiA in Atlanta]

What would it mean if water/ice were found on Mars? That Martian base could be more easily set up? If large amounts of water/ice were found under the surface could humans somehow turn that into an atmosphere that the human body could function in?

[annielaurie]

What would it mean if water/ice were found on Mars? That Martian base could be more easily set up? If large amounts of water/ice were found under the surface could humans somehow turn that into an atmosphere that the human body could function in?

Probably not, since the Mars atmosphere doesn't have any oxygen. Unless the Mars water will release enough oxygen into the air, humans would not be able to breathe unaided.

Also Mars is too small (not enough mass) to keep an atmospheric pressure suitable for humans, it keeps losing it to evaporation into space.

[AiA in Atlanta]

Carl Sagan's message to Mars explorer written many years ago:

Maybe we’re on Mars because of the magnificent science that can be done there — the gates of the wonder world are opening in our time. Maybe we’re on Mars because we have to be, because there’s a deep nomadic impulse built into us by the evolutionary process — we come, after all, from hunter-gatherers, and for 99.9% of our tenure on Earth we’ve been wanderers. And the next place to wander to is Mars. But whatever the reason you’re on Mars is, I’m glad you’re there. And I wish I was with you."

But some sixteen years prior, in Chapter V of his legendary Cosmos, titled “Blues for a Red Planet,” Sagan had voiced a gentle lament reminding us to keep our solipsistic anthropocentrism in check:

The surface area of Mars is exactly as large as the land area of the Earth. A thorough reconnaissance will clearly occupy us for centuries. But there will be a time when Mars is all explored; a time after robot aircraft have mapped it from aloft, a time after rovers have combed the surface, a time after samples have been returned safely to Earth, a time after human beings have walked the sands of Mars. What then? What shall we do with Mars?

There are so many examples of human misuse of the Earth that even phrasing this question chills me. If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes. The existence of an independent biology on a nearby planet is a treasure beyond assessing, and the preservation of that life must, I think, supersede any other possible use of Mars.

Leave Mars alone? Will never happen. Wandering isn't our only human nature.

[mantra]

There are so many examples of human misuse of the Earth that even phrasing this question chills me. If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes. The existence of an independent biology on a nearby planet is a treasure beyond assessing, and the preservation of that life must, I think, supersede any other possible use of Mars.

Carl Sagan is very astute.

Leave Mars alone? Will never happen. Wandering isn't our only human nature.

Mars might be rich in mineral resources - gold and oil perhaps? Just imagine the export dollars. The entrepeneurs could make a real killing as long as the sucker tax payer paves the way for them.

[Super Nova]

There are so many examples of human misuse of the Earth that even phrasing this question chills me. If there is life on Mars, I believe we should do nothing with Mars. Mars then belongs to the Martians, even if the Martians are only microbes. The existence of an independent biology on a nearby planet is a treasure beyond assessing, and the preservation of that life must, I think, supersede any other possible use of Mars.

If there is currently life on Mars like boxy I think it will be related to us, that is , life on Earth.

The fact of life... is that the risk of new varieties of life invading is normal. We will pollute the solar system with new weeds of life from Earth and they may dominate and even make extinct the current life on Mars or other places.

We need to reform Mars to our purposes as an exercise for how we will reform many systems in our reach for the stars.

Leaving it alone is not an option. We are not the guardians of the universe, we are a life form that will colonise and expand given time. It's what we are designed to do.

The biggest risk to us is the reverse. We bring somethig back here and it takes over the planet.

Unrelated - Here is an interesting article on how little computer processing power is needed for such a mission.

Curiosity may be the most sophisticated spacecraft ever sent to another planet, but the 900-kilogram rover runs on a computer with the same power as a smartphone.

The main computer that controls the rover's post-landing software has a processing speed of just 200 megahertz, less than half the power of the latest iPhones.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/sci ... z2335k3Jtj

[AiA in Atlanta]

[Super Nova]

That is a wonderful photo.

[C Sagan]

What would it mean if water/ice were found on Mars? That Martian base could be more easily set up? If large amounts of water/ice were found under the surface could humans somehow turn that into an atmosphere that the human body could function in?

Probably not, since the Mars atmosphere doesn't have any oxygen. Unless the Mars water will release enough oxygen into the air, humans would not be able to breathe unaided.

Also Mars is too small (not enough mass) to keep an atmospheric pressure suitable for humans, it keeps losing it to evaporation into space.

There is a theory that an atmosphere COULD be created on Mars, one that would take many, many years to complete (of course) and would support some forms of plant life.