# Water Found in Martian Soil



## Ursa major (Sep 26, 2013)

NASA has reported some of its findings from the Curiosity rover:
BBC News - Mars water surprise in Curiosity rover soil samples

Nasa's Curiosity rover finds water in Martian soil | Science | The Guardian​ 



From the BBC article:


> Curiosity researcher Laurie Leshin and colleagues tell Science Magazine that Mars' dusty red covering holds about 2% by weight of water.
> 
> This could be a useful resource for future astronauts, they say.
> 
> ...


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Sep 26, 2013)

Another foreign water discovery, huh?


I remember all the hoopla about water being found on the Moon and that has, as of yet, not come to anything.


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## Starbeast (Sep 26, 2013)

That's for sure.

I don't think we'll see astronauts on any planet or the moon in our lifetime. Perhaps a hundred years (or more) from now.


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Sep 26, 2013)

Actually, Starbeast, there are plans for sending an experimental colony up to Mars within the next few years. Just a couple of people, if I remember correctly.


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## Ursa major (Sep 26, 2013)

Karn Maeshalanadae said:


> Just a couple of people....


Evidence of a watered-down project, I suspect.


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## Brian G Turner (Sep 26, 2013)

Oh, lordy, not another of these "MArs is covered in water" stories.

They did one a few years ago where someone at NASA claimed there was enough water in Martian ice to drink straight. BEfore another colleague corrected that you'd be poisoned if you did.


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## Starbeast (Sep 26, 2013)

Karn Maeshalanadae said:


> Actually, Starbeast, there are plans for sending an experimental colony up to Mars within the next few years. Just a couple of people, if I remember correctly.


 

Hmm. I hope it works out. I found a clip about it.

Chinese Volunteers Register for Mars Colonization Project - YouTube


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Sep 26, 2013)

Yeah, see?


I've never had doubt about being able to set foot on our small red neighbor. The trick is, surviving upon it. Which is what this is supposed to be, I think; an experimental colony.


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## Ursa major (Sep 26, 2013)

I said:


> They did one a few years ago where someone at NASA claimed there was enough water in Martian ice to drink straight. BEfore another colleague corrected that you'd be poisoned if you did.


Given that you have to heat the soil to hundreds of degrees, the water will be released as steam. And while distilled water doesn't taste particularly nice, it shouldn't be poisonous.


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## Karn Maeshalanadae (Sep 26, 2013)

Not pure distilled water, no. And with the proper supplies-which I should guess that their transport-living quarters would have solar panels for electrical energy-you can easily heat things to that high a temperature and then be able to catch steam.


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## jastius (Sep 27, 2013)

a steam distillation process much like what they use to extract the oil from the tar sands. However,  there is a lot of unwanted particulate that is dissolved in any water. Making potable drinking water from sea water is child's play in comparison to what can attach in a chemically hostile environment.


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## Stephen Palmer (Sep 27, 2013)

The Martian surface is indeed hostile - just been reading about this is Lewis Dartnell's book, An Introduction To Astrobiology. In particular, lots of perchlorates, which are dangerous.


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## Ursa major (Sep 27, 2013)

Please don't mention perchlorates; otherwise some people may get overexcited:


> ...ammonium perchlorate is also a component of solid rocket fuel. Lithium perchlorate, which decomposes exothermically to produce oxygen, is used in oxygen "candles" on spacecraft, submarines, and in other situations where a reliable backup oxygen supply is needed.


From the introductory paragraph of the Wiki article on perchlorates.


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## Stephen Palmer (Sep 27, 2013)

OK.

But... the high UV levels at the Martian surface also generate hydrogen peroxide and superoxides. Yum!


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## mosaix (Sep 27, 2013)

Okay, so there are a few problems to be overcome before the stuff could actually be drunk but it's a darn sight better than there being no water at all. 

This is a step in the right direction. 

BTW does anyone know what percentage of water by weight of does, say, the Sahara hold or, for that matter, an average field in Britain?


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## Ursa major (Sep 27, 2013)

According to this website:


> The water content in soil is also known as moisture content and can be expressed as:
> 
> _....w = 100 Mw/Ms  (1)_
> 
> ...


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## Dave (Sep 27, 2013)

I don't find this very unusual or exciting. You can see from some geomorphological features on Mars that water was once present, in quite large amounts, so the fact that some still remains isn't strange. As others have pointed out, while it is undoubtedly there, extracting it from the soil/rock/substrate is not particularly easy. If it were easy then it would probably have already have boiled away.

It seems to be becoming clear that Mars was once a planet with an atmosphere and liquid water. Some think that life may have originated on Mars and then seeded the Earth. However, that was a long time ago.


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## Starbeast (Sep 27, 2013)

Karn Maeshalanadae said:


> Yeah, see?
> 
> I've never had doubt about being able to set foot on our small red neighbor. The trick is, surviving upon it. Which is what this is supposed to be, I think; an experimental colony.


 
Yep, it's a one way ticket (set for ten years from now - I'll probably have forgotten about it by then). The scary thought is, if they need help, it wouldn't be there for months.

BTW - I found water in my basement, so I'll phone NASA.


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## Gordian Knot (Sep 28, 2013)

I wonder how pure Martian water would be in comparison to what we drink right now, right here on good ol' planet earth. The quality of drinking water even in the industrialized countries is suspicious at best.

Want a good scary story. Check out what is in the water that comes out of your typical tap!


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## Vertigo (Sep 28, 2013)

As it is not freestanding water, it's purity is a little meaningless. In fact it would be more meaningful to describe the water as an impurity in the soil/rock! By the time it has gone through whatever techniques might be used to extract it I think you can safely say it will be nothing but H2O.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 28, 2013)

No big surprise really; if there was no water, why build the canals?


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## Dave (Sep 28, 2013)

paranoid marvin said:


> No big surprise really; if there was no water, why build the canals?


I hope you are joking and didn't think I was was referring to Percival Lowell's canals. By 'geomorphological features' I meant the large erosional features of giant channels and branching networks of small valleys seen by Mariner and Viking which are clearly made by fast running water.


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## paranoid marvin (Sep 28, 2013)

Yes,a joke. It does fascinate me though that a couple of centuries or so ago, many assumed they were irrigation canals built (presumably) by Martian farmers. I wonder what commonly held beliefs of today will be shown to be wildly inaccurate in the 22nd century?


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## Ursa major (Sep 29, 2013)

The existence of human intelligence...?


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## jastius (Sep 29, 2013)

this a Smithsonian link to an article about the geological properties of martian rock supposedly forming near water.

Curiosity Discovers a New Type of Martian Rock That Likely Formed Near Water | Surprising Science


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## mosaix (Sep 30, 2013)

paranoid marvin said:


> I wonder what commonly held beliefs of today will be shown to be wildly inaccurate in the 22nd century?



That we landed on the Moon?

Yes, a joke!


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## ratsy (Sep 30, 2013)

Call me when they find a green dude running around the surface


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## Harpo (Oct 2, 2013)

Karn Maeshalanadae said:


> I remember all the hoopla about water being found on the Moon and that has, as of yet, not come to anything.


 
That was less than four years ago 
NASA finds 'significant' water on moon - CNN.com

Are you in a hurry, Bubbles?


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## Liz Bent (Jan 20, 2014)

Finding water is exciting mostly because on Earth, where there is water, you find life (generally). I haven't followed astrobiology of recent years, but I remember about 8 years ago people were looking for water on Mars as evidence that life might have existed there, or may still exist there- and now, of course, the next step is to look for evidence of life. If they find things sufficiently similar to Earthly organisms (say, bacteria containing DNA), it would be hugely significant- this would support the theory of panspermia, which is the idea that life on Earth arose originally from bacterial cells present on comets that collided with the Earth.


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