WATER ON MARS!!!

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Who says that they are finished with the announcements? http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1297



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Are they ever? Horray for constantly changing news, & (hopefully) down the road adapting to all of this news.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080805/...c/phoenix_mars

On Earth, perchlorate is a natural and manmade contaminant sometimes found in soil and groundwater. It is the main ingredient in solid rocket fuel and can be found in fireworks, pyrotechnics and other explosives.
It's unclear how perchlorate forms on Mars or how much there is of it. NASA is investigating whether the substance could have gotten there by contamination before launch. Phoenix used another fuel, hydrazine, to power its thrusters and land on the red planet on May 25.

Theory: Could that substance (perchlorate) have "rained on Mars" as the Phoenix, or any other crafts (re: Rovers) landed?
Was perchlorate used in the rover's fuel for decent, or even launch?

We think of Mars as a "clean slate" or a type of "clean room environment", but the more craft we send there, the more contaminants we in turn bring to the surface (whether by particles that were on the units before launch from earth, or the particles/elements/misc. that it picked up along it's journey to the red planet.

We can't rule out the possibility that this, or any other substance that is found on Mars ended up there because it "hitched a ride" on of our probes we sent there.

$0.02

Also, If we find more of it there, and find that it is a native element to Mars & we know that it is a basic element of making rocket fuel, could it be mined to make that in the near/far future?
(Please let's not get into that argument about not strip mining another planet like we do our own. It's just a suggestion, or question of mine about the feasibility that it COULD be done, not that it SHOULD. lol)