Don't Drink the Mars Water

[Boris_Badenov]

I had to post this because this guy is so ignorant. You would think he has never heard of distilled water or a desalination plant. If you click on the link there is a tab at the bottom for discussion. I think someone needs to tell him that H2O is H2O no matter where it's found, & that I seriously doubt that he could step outside his house after a rain & drink from a mud puddle without getting sick.<br /><br />Don't Drink the Mars Water<br />Is extraterrestrial water potable?<br />By Daniel Engber<br /><br />Water has flowed on Mars within the last few years, researchers announced Dec. 6.<br /> Images of Martian gullies show what appear to be the deposits left by little spurts of <br />water as they trickled downhill. If an astronaut could bottle up some of this<br /> extraterrestrial water, could he drink it?<br /><br />Probably not. At this point, it's impossible to know exactly which minerals are dissolved<br /> in the water, and in what concentrations. But the evidence from salt deposits elsewhere<br /> on the surface suggests that a Martian aquifer isn't exactly Poland Spring. There's a<br /> reasonable chance that any liquid you might find on the surface of the planet would be<br /> an acidic sludge of minerals. <br /><br />The fact that there's any liquid water at all on the surface of Mars should be a warning<br /> sign. Under most conditions, the planet's thin and cold atmosphere would make water<br /> freeze or evaporate soon after it emerged from underground. The melting point of the<br /> water could be lowered—and this process could be delayed—if the fluid were particularly<br /> salty. (That's why we sprinkle salt on ice and snow in the winter.) Given that the Martian<br /> water stayed on the surface long enough to trickle into a gully, we might presume that it<br /> would be too salty to drink.<br /><br />That's not the only reason to think the space water would be unpalatable. Mineral<br /> specimens collected by the Mars rovers (on other parts of the planet) have tu <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[thebigcat]

Lighten up. The guy took a dry (sorry) paper on Martian water chemistry and tried to turn it into a mildly amusing article. It wasn't meant to be taken at face value. It's actually a good, informative read. <br /><br />If you think about what it says you'll see that even distillation of Martian water could be problematical. Reverse osmosis would be difficult as the water would destroy the permeable membranes which are currently used in desalination facilties. Ditto the more energy intensive distillation process. Probably, the only option for tomorrow's Martians to use the native water (a necessity) would be to go straight to the polar regions and use the water ice there. Failing that. <i>The Martian Way</i> will have to become a reality. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[silylene old]

The water could be first neutralized, then treated to precipitate the sulphates, then filter over a sand bed...<br /><br />Then either distill or use reverse osmosis.<br /><br />I don't see any big difficulty. This is well within the range of known commercial water purification technology. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

i agree, the article is informative and delves with humour into the nature of martian water. it doesn't come from a standpoint of ignorance but instead from telling the tale of the exotic and alien martian conditions. desalination or purification is another issue and not the scope of the article. it's saying, ok if you were to actually drink the water there as it comes from the ground, this is what you'd expect.<br /><br />it's like saying "ok, for sake of argument, if you could go to Titan and survive on the surface, this is what you would feel, see, hear, smell, etc.."

 

[JonClarke]

Distillation should be easy, given the low atmospheric pressure. Plus we don't know that all the water on Mars is acidic and hypersaline. Some, such as snow and ice melt, will be of low salinity. And extreme pervasive acidity is only an inference from limited data, and not a particularly good one.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

Hey, a lot of us here on Earth, whether we know it or not, <br />drink water that in a past life was sewage. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[JonClarke]

Indeed. And most of Earth's water is not fit to drink, it too salty. But somehow we manage.<br /><br />Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

The Phoenix metro area has close to 4 million people & not enough fresh water to go around. The water reclamation technology used in that area is absolutely amazing. Maybe we can send some of their engineers on the first Mars mission. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>

 

[enigma10]

They're unionized. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

At this point we should not conclude that mars water exists.It is possible but not proved.We should think of alternative possibilities also.

 

[maeklos]

Drag Europa into Mars orbit and launch it at the planet. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> Voila! Instant water for drinking and atmosphere for a few hundred or thousand years. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Boris_Badenov]

<font color="yellow"> Drag Europa into Mars orbit and launch it at the planet. Voila! Instant water for drinking and atmosphere for a few hundred or thousand years. </font><br /><br /> After that impact it should only take a couple of hundred million years for the planet & it's new moon to cool & solidify into round objects. <img src="/images/icons/crazy.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#993300"><span class="body"><font size="2" color="#3366ff"><div align="center">. </div><div align="center">Never roll in the mud with a pig. You'll both get dirty & the pig likes it.</div></font></span></font> </div>