There's water on Mars.

I mean seriously - how cool is this?

They were just discussing it on the local radio. What was interesting was how they explained the difference it makes in knowing about the liquid form, and the process to get the liquid form, compared with the gaseous and the frozen forms previously noted.

Did you see the TED talk on The Martian? And how whatshisname (sorry) worked hard to get all the science right, just to miss out on this???

Well, can we get some of that here? My lawn is brown.

It's one more step to a long-term human presence up there.

Mars really doesn't need us at all.

FilmCarp said:
Mars really doesn't need us at all.

No. But we need Mars

I get that they saw something liquid. How do they know it's H20?

drummerboy said:
I mean seriously - how cool is this?

It is just way fcuking seriously cool.

The pace of discovery is amazing these days.

jersey_boy said:
I get that they saw something liquid. How do they know it's H20?

I think observers noted that liquid flows or rivers appeared over a warming period whereas CO2 ice would have sublimed rather than flowed.

I thought I heard that the composition of this "water" is unknown so far. So I'm not sure why they're calling it "water". Isn't water H2O only?

One scientist stated it was evidence of hydrolyzed salts, which require the presence of water. I won't claim to fully understand that statement.

So future Mars astronauts will only need to bring barley, hops and yeast to make beer on this new world.

Here's an article that explains how the traces can be identified:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-29/evidence-for-liquid-water-found-on-mars/6810080

You'll see in the summary box they also explain the process of gas to liquid to frozen to liquid to gas...

This discussion points out the water is very briny and that there are teeny critters in South Merica living in similar briny waters

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-29/duffy-water-on-mars-is-huge-for-our-search-for-life-beyond-earth/6812008

Be there Martian pirates o' the Marrrrtian briny?

First the Pope, then Putin and now this guy.

marksierra said:
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"Underwater bar"? That's old news.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11612800/Worlds-first-underwater-bar-opens-in-Mexico.html

I really hope to live to see meaningful exploration of Mars by humans. I'd love it to be the USA that leads the way, but I worry we've lost our focus on science and technology.

It's going to be a costly venture but in the end I believe it will yield huge progress in all kinds of tech from materials (what will we build a Mars habitat for humans out of) to biomedical (how do we keep people alive and healthy on such a journey) to energy to computing. I think we're decades from a permanent human base on another planet or moon but I'd love to see more progress soon.

There's even a cute Google Doodle about the discovery.

JCSO said:

The pace of discovery is amazing these days.

It's amazing how amazing things are.

DaveSchmidt, marksierra was saying 'water on Mars'.... He's a bit literal...

Yep, joanne. I can be a bit of a littoral-minded wag myself.