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| Hydrated Mars of Old |
Anyone ever wonder how they search
for water in space? With NASA’s newest
Mars rover - Curiosity - due to land on Mars on August 6 this is a timely topic
as this rover will be looking for water.
It turns out there are actually a
number of ways to look for or detect water on moons and planets we have begun
to explore. These include spectroscopic measurements, radar, regular old
photography, the presence of minerals known to retain water, direct observation
and the latest way going to be used by Curiosity – employing the dynamic albedo
of neutrons.
This approach will shoot millions of
neutrons into the soil in microbursts of energy. The neutrally-charged neutrons when they hit
hydrogen atoms will slow to a near stop because of their similar sizes, and by
catching the returning signals the presence and amount of water can be determined. The tests are also designed to learn more
about the water cycle of Mars, it’s near ground climate and whether seasonal
soil moisture patterns exist – all in about 20 minutes of pulsing
neutrons. This had better work well,
because where they intend to land, in the vicinity of the Gale Crater, there
are only clays and sulphates - hydrated minerals.
I was surprised to learn that this
is not the first foray to Mars looking for water. It began with the Mariner 9 mission in 1971, and
has since then included the Viking program, the Mars Global surveyor, Mars
Pathfinder, Mars Odyssey, Phoenix, the Mars Rovers, the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter, Mars Express and the Mars Opportunity Rover. You’d think we’d already have had a pipeline
headed toward California by now.
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