Mars: crater ice

[Dr Mordrid]

Link....

The HRSC on ESA's Mars Express obtained this perspective view on 2 February 2005 during orbit 1343 with a ground resolution of approximately 15 metres per pixel.

It shows an unnamed impact crater located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars's far northern latitudes, at approximately 70.5° North and 103° East.

The crater is 35 kilometres wide and has a maximum depth of approximately 2 kilometres beneath the crater rim. The circular patch of bright material located at the centre of the crater is residual water ice.

The colours are very close to natural, but the vertical relief is exaggerated three times.

The view is looking east.

[Evildead666]

WOW.

Thats quite a patch if ice...

[KRSESQ]

Anyone up for some skating?

Kevin

[Dr Mordrid]

Goes to show that sending unmanned factories to melt the ice and turn the water into rocket fuel and oxygen before sending a crew & hab is a good idea.

[Gurm]

Goes to show that sending unmanned factories to melt the ice and turn the water into rocket fuel and oxygen before sending a crew & hab is a good idea.

The problem is that for long-term habitation to be viable, you need a LOT more water. And frankly, what happened to the atmosphere, anyway? I know there are theories, but terraforming Mars will require some substantial thought, and probably technology we don't currently possess.

What we really need is faster-than-light travel, so we can find OTHER planets that are already habitable.

[Nowhere]

Stephen Hawking is working on that

As for Mars - icecaps hold much more water; this and water frozen in the ground would cover much of the planet...

Mars lost it's atmosphere mostly due to much lower gravity AFAIK, basically what it would take to terraform Mars is to cause massive greenhouse effect.

Of course we don't have the technology...ATM we can't even get there But I think we mostly know what should be done...and that's ignoring the thing that it'll probably happen naturally in 1 billion years or so due to Sun heating up.

BTW, there are also other options...at certain levels of Venusian atmosphere the pressure and temperature is comparable to Earth conditions, somebody suggested placing floating cities there. Or do "anti greenhouse" effect on whole planet.

[Dr Mordrid]

We could get to Mars easily...IF we had continued the nuclear thermal rocket program to fruition. 3 months one way with the capability to haul at least 200 metric tons per load.