Mars express radar readied to search for Martian water

[rlb2]

<font color="orange">Could subsurface water exist as liquid?<br /><br />Planetary geologists have speculated for decades about exactly how warm it gets beneath the Martian surface, as the planet’s interior heat seeps toward the frigid surface. Some theories had suggested a region of "warm enough" rubble somewhere between the impervious bedrock and the frozen top layers, where water could migrate from the polar ice caps to the warmer equatorial regions. Other geologists told MSNBC.com they believed the layers would be frozen all the way to bedrock.<br /><br />”We utilized similar models of the subsurface to get an idea of how deep we might detect liquid water,” Plaut explained. “These models depend on the existence (at least locally) of a saturated cryosphere, below which the temperature and the water abundance is sufficient for a groundwater deposit. <br /><br />“Whether the water is part of a globally connected aquifer tied in with the polar deposits is not really important,” he continued. “The first question is, is the water there? The next would be, how did it get there?”<br /><br />The experiment could conceivably detect water that is two or three miles (a few kilometers) beneath the surface.<br /><br />http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7751425/</font> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Ron Bennett </div>

 

[starbaby57]

This might seem like stating the obvious but I've been thinking this for a long time: Radar observations of Mars are the next big thing. This mission and the MRO coming up. The shuttle saw unbelieveable things when it conducted its radar mapping of the Earth. I can only imagine what we find on Mars!

 

[grooble]

Water will be Mars' oil.

 

[chew_on_this]

does this mean we'll have to buy water from a bunch of martian towel heads?

 

[chew_on_this]

for your edification:<br /><br />http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20040171712_2004168311.pdf