Mars surface 'more uninhabitable' than thought: study

[rangerrebew]

Mars surface 'more uninhabitable' than thought: study
July 6, 2017
 

Hopes of finding life on Mars, at least on the surface, were dealt a blow Thursday by a study revealing that salt minerals present on the Red Planet kill bacteria.

In lab tests on Earth, the compounds known as perchlorates killed cultures of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, a basic life form, a research duo from the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics and Astronomy reported.

Perchlorates, stable at room temperature, become active at high heat. Mars is very cold.


Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-07-mars-surface-uninhabitable-thought.html#jCp

[dfwgator]

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.

[Oceander]

Indeed, rocketman. 

[Cripplecreek]

No doubt you could get things to grow there in greenhouses but it will take some major preparation of the soil.

[SunkenCiv]

[snip] The idea that Mars was once a warm place, awash with oceans that could harboured early life has taken a knock - new data suggests it was always cold, frozen and probably lifeless. A survey of the Red Planet's surface has revealed only traces of carbonates, minerals that should have formed in abundant quantities if Mars once had expansive seas. On Earth, the mineral is found in limestone and chalk deposits around the world. The data was collected by a thermal emission spectrometer (TES) on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and was analysed by researchers at Arizona State University in the US... "We found carbonate, but we've only trace amounts," said team leader Philip Christensen. "This really points to a cold, frozen, icy Mars that has probably always been that way. We believe that the relatively small amounts that we see probably did not come from oceans, but from the [carbon dioxide] atmosphere interacting directly with dust," he said... "We see so much erosion in canyons, and valleys and plains that have been stripped bare," he said. "It seems unlikely that the carbonate rocks could all be hiding out of view. When you look at the entire planet, you'd think that somewhere a little piece would be exposed." [/snip]

Mars was 'always cold and frozen' | David Cohen | New Scientist | 22 August 2003

[snip] "There is something of a paradox about Mars," agrees Joshua Bandfield of Arizona State University in Tempe. His team recently showed that the planet has no large deposits of carbonates, which should have formed if giant pools of water had persisted on the surface. Bandfield suggests that liquid water must have occasionally burst out of the ground, carving channels and gullies, but that it quickly froze again in the frigid Martian climate... A consensus is now growing among planetary specialists, however, that except for brief early periods more than 4 billion years ago when gigantic meteors might have heated the Martian surface and melted subsurface waters, the Red Planet has always been a cold and icy object, according to Philip Christensen of Arizona State University. [/snip]

Why is Mars red? | Hazel Muir | New Scientist | 4 September 2003

[Smokin Joe]

If you want to release a bunch of water, hit the planet with a rock or an iceball. The heat generated will produce water, which will flow until it cools or soaks into the regolith. After that, sublimation will disperse the residues on the surface over time.

[rodamala]

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.

In fact, it's cold as Hell.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hARDXYz2io

@dfwgator
@Oceander
@Freya

[Joe Wooten]

Hey, sudden flash of genius!!

Let's propose to the global warming crowd to transfer megatons of CO2 from Venus to Mars to test the theory that CO2 will act as a strong greenhouse gas. That way we can get an interplanetary transport infrastructure built and operating with a vocal and influential crowd supporting it. It would take decades to get it built and centuries to finish the job, but in the end we might get a more reasonably habitable world out of the deal - Mars that is. Venus is a hopeless case.

[Wingnut]

Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids.

In fact, it's cold as Hell.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hARDXYz2io

@dfwgator

That was so bad it was actually Bad. 

[Night Hides Not]

No doubt you could get things to grow there in greenhouses but it will take some major preparation of the soil.

Matt Damon proved it in "The Martian".

I'm not a fan of Damon, but that was a pretty good movie.

[Smokin Joe]

Matt Damon proved it in "The Martian".

I'm not a fan of Damon, but that was a pretty good movie.

Well, that settles it. The whole AGW crowd should be sent there to spew their >ahem< manure, to liven the soil up. There's plenty of CO2 there, so it should be a regular garden planet in no time.

[Wingnut]

Well, that settles it. The whole AGW crowd should be sent there to spew their >ahem< manure, to liven the soil up. There's plenty of CO2 there, so it should be a regular garden planet in no time.

What about those sex slaves?  Can they cook?

[The_Reader_David]

Hey, sudden flash of genius!!

Let's propose to the global warming crowd to transfer megatons of CO2 from Venus to Mars to test the theory that CO2 will act as a strong greenhouse gas. That way we can get an interplanetary transport infrastructure built and operating with a vocal and influential crowd supporting it. It would take decades to get it built and centuries to finish the job, but in the end we might get a more reasonably habitable world out of the deal - Mars that is. Venus is a hopeless case.

The Venusian surface is hopeless, but the level of the atmosphere at which airships filled with earth-standard air would have neutral buoyancy, is not corrosive and is a perfectly reasonable temperature.  Cloud cities!

[kevindavis007]

Space Ping! PM me if you want on or off the list..


@Oceander
@Sanguine
@Cripplecreek
@Freya
@EC
@Joe Wooten
@r9etb
@Just_Victor
@montanajoe
@Ghost Bear
@Free Vulcan
@Idaho_Cowboy
@geronl
@Scutter   
@InHeavenThereIsNoBeer
@bigheadfred
@Victoria33
@Weird Tolkienish Figure
@sneakypete
@bolobaby
@DCPatriot
@mrpotatohead

[Smokin Joe]

What about those sex slaves?  Can they cook?

No sex slaves. They're up there to work to make the planet fit for the humans who will colonize it.

[Wingnut]

No sex slaves. They're up there to work to make the planet fit for the humans who will colonize it.

No "Comfort Girls"?  Long trip. No joy.

[Smokin Joe]

No "Comfort Girls"?  Long trip. No joy.

Psssst! They're most all Liberals, and they're never happy anyway. Let them grumble about work.

[Wingnut]

Psssst! They're most all Liberals, and they're never happy anyway. Let them grumble about work.

Good point.

[SunkenCiv]

If you want to release a bunch of water, hit the planet with a rock or an iceball. The heat generated will produce water, which will flow until it cools or soaks into the regolith. After that, sublimation will disperse the residues on the surface over time.

When impacts occur on Mars, the heat brings about a temporary microclimate with an atmosphere of water vapor, making it temporarily possible for liquid water to flow.  That's the reason for those "from nowhere, to nowhere" erosional features.

[Smokin Joe]

When impacts occur on Mars, the heat brings about a temporary microclimate with an atmosphere of water vapor, making it temporarily possible for liquid water to flow.  That's the reason for those "from nowhere, to nowhere" erosional features.

Yep. Figured that out looking at the Viking images.

[Gefn]

Marvin the Martian ruined it with his kaboom.

@rodamala
@Hopalong Ginsberg (for Deimos)
@Suppressed
@To-Whose-Benefit?

I miss Mel Blanc.

[Hopalong Ginsberg]

Marvin the Martian ruined it with his kaboom.

@rodamala
@Hopalong Ginsberg (for Deimos)
@Suppressed
@To-Whose-Benefit?

I miss Mel Blanc.

D does not like earth-shattering kabooms. He and Marvin never got along.

[SunkenCiv]

Yep. Figured that out looking at the Viking images.

I think we may be the only ones.  :)