…not so fast kids, it seems that Scientists have indeed found some Aqua on the Red Planet. According to :
Water ice has been discovered on Mars by the Phoenix probe which landed on the planet last month, scientists confirmed.
Mission controllers had been excited by chunks of white material in the Martian soil exposed by the craft’s robot arm.
On Saturday scientists confirmed what they had hoped - that the material was frozen water.
So you all know what this mean, don’t you? Well Walt will have a place to make a rest stop on his way to Senda
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As much as I am a cheerleader for robots traveling to Mars to do the science remotely, this particular mission is pretty much a waste of resources. As soon as I realized that the power for the robot would die after the sunlight decreases, I knew the mission planners screwed up. Robotic missions to Mars need additional power supplies, such as nuclear power, and they need wheels to find the best location to do their science — not just relying on the luck of setting down in a good spot. A multi-nuclear power approach might be the best, but I’m not a mission designer either — but I could imagine one RTG power brick(s) setup and a secondary nuclear long term (but not used for power) heat source to keep the electronics alive after the RTG nuclear power supply dies off and the robot is waiting for the Sun to get strong enough for the solar panels to recharge the batteries. (Yes, solar would still be a part of the mission planning)
Power by nukes have a stigma in space missions, but the concept really needs to be embraced fully. We’ll be saving money by the ability to have longer missions in which to do more science per robotic mission.
Plus, we won’t have to worry about what to do with the contaminated waste, or that due to the radioactive half-life of the fuel irradiating our children and having them wind up looking like, well, Martians.
The Perfessor