[extropy-chat] brine on Mars might have been found

[Bryan Moss]

Brett Paatsch wrote:

> Interesting stuff. But I'm a bit surprised that there is not some
> process whereby water or the water in brine could not quite
> quickly be determined by means better than a visual (i.e. "it
> looks like mud"). Perhaps it can but they just haven't done
> it yet?  What non-visual test small enough to be carried out by
> the buggy would prove the presence of water?

They can't go near the "magic carpet" area because it's too close to the
lander and therefore too dangerous to navigate.

> This Mars stuff is cool. Just finding some life on another planet
> of *any* form would imo be a *very* big deal.  I sometimes wonder
> if with all the tech entertainment and speculation if folk can still be
> impressed by things that have that extra element of being real rather
> than imaginary. Actual rather than speculative.

I've noticed that it's very difficult for most people to understand what's
being achieved on Mars.  Once you strip away the initial enthusiasm for yet
another example of US technical superiority, you're left with maybe a
handful of excited space nerds.  I doubt discovering life would be much
different; it would provide a topic of discussion for awhile, little else.

I think it will take sending people to really drive home the idea that Mars
is *another planet* instead of just a rather nondescript desert.

BM