Sam Yikin on 01 August 2008
I don't understand all this excitement over this find (this is referring to the ice-water found by the lander, yes?). According to my astronomy class textbooks, there's plenty of hard evidence for water (river delta's, muddy impacts, eroded craters), and I'm fairly sure they'd assume there would be water locked up in the ice caps. Maybe this means the above mentioned observations aren't as indicative as they seemed.
Anyhow, could any celled organisms exist in an area soaked in UV rays at all? |
Everyone is excited because this is finally 100% proof that there IS water on mars, and at least some of the ice at the poles is water ice. The lander has also discovered that the soil there has the necessary chemicals to support life.
"Anyhow, could any celled organisms exist in an area soaked in UV rays at all?"
Many signs (running water, etc) point to the idea that mars had a much more substantial atmosphere earlier in its life (that would block UV rays) that somehow dissipated.
