Comments on: Another skylight entrance pit found on Mars

By: Localfluff

Localfluff — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 22:24:35 +0000

@wodun It is being worked on! A mobile habitat is a great idea. It doesn’t need to move fast in order to cover a large area during the long stay between conjunctions. Wernher von Braun wrote “Das Marsprojekt” which was the first serious description of a human trip to Mars. His vision was to land with gliders on the ice of a pole and then move on the ground towards the equator to build a landing strip for further space ships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwFrCpYavt4

By: wodun

wodun — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 21:18:00 +0000

@Localfluff

I’ve been trying to imagine what a mobile base would look like and how it would get to the Martian surface. Maybe the BFR/BFS will solve part of this problem. A base that could be moved would prevent a lot of money wasted on something that would otherwise only be used once. A wagon train of sorts would allow for some intensive prospecting over long periods of time. They could even develop ISRU skills in making garages along the way to protect from dust storms and radiation.

By: Localfluff

Localfluff — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 20:28:07 +0000

@Col Beausabre I understand that it is clear water, not just humidity. That can certainly be determined with radar. And brine it is for sure, it is liquid at an estimated temperature of minus 10 Celsius. It is of course not useful as a resource, there’s plenty of water much more accessible. But if there ever was life on Mars, it might have retreated to lakes like this. But I suppose it would require contact with bedrock to have any nutritions of substance, not embedded in ice. It might be doable to melt down a probe to it. That’s a technique in high demand among astrobiologists for the Jovian moons.

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 18:49:25 +0000

Localfluff, This is a “Do you want the good or the bad news?” deal

Good – It exists

Bad –

1. They are not sure if it is liquid water, mud or in porous rock (rather like oil on earth)

2. It may be brine of some type

3. It is thought to be several klicks down

So while it might be useful someday, accessing, analyzing and purifying it will be beyond our capability for what appears to be a good long while until we can set up some fairly large machinery.

By: Localfluff

Localfluff — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 16:49:57 +0000

Great Mars news!!!
A liquid salt water lake has been detected under the southern polar cap, by radar on Mars Express! 20 km wide but the depth is not better known than “at least 1 meter”, since liquid water absorbs the radar waves. But it is a real lake, not just “slush”.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a22541370/underground-lake-liquid-water-mars/

By: Localfluff

Localfluff — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 14:22:06 +0000

@wodun, Yeah, I think that a couple of “flag and footprint” style missions would be the way to start out on Mars. There’s a lot to be learned before large scale sustainable missions can be made. It is very promising for prospecting that Mars2020 will carry a helicopter. A huge advantage for covering larger areas. I don’t find the figure now, but I think that MRO has covered only something like 1% or 2% of Mars’ area with its high resolution (down to one foot), after 12 years.

By: Col Beausabre

Col Beausabre — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:32:54 +0000

Bob, Has it occurred to you that your spelunking skills make you an ideal colonization candidate?

Lets set up a GoFundMe page – “Send Bob to Mars” !

By: Robert Zimmerman

Robert Zimmerman — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 04:11:32 +0000

In reply to Andi. Andi: Thank you. I think an estimate of 60 meters, about 200 feet, seems reasonable. Gosh, this would some wonderful rappel.

By: Andi

Andi — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 03:35:37 +0000

Sorry, meant lower left!

By: Andi

Andi — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 03:34:42 +0000

I’ll give it a shot. The article says that the sun was 37 degrees above the horizon. I estimated the length of the longest shadow to be about 80m, given the 100m guide line, and the sun from the lower right of the image.

Then tan 37 = h/80, where h is the depth of the pit.

Or, h = 80 tan 37 = 80 (0.754) = 60m approx

By: wodun

wodun — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 21:47:14 +0000

Prospecting Mars is going to be a massive undertaking. We might have the technology to transport a colony their long before we know where a good place to build a colony is. The same is true for the Moon, we need a serious effort to prospect sites for lunar bases or use mobile bases.