Water found on Mars!

[mornelithe]

SvennoJ said:

mornelithe said:

It's EXTREMELY salty, far higher than Earth's oceans.  So no, you would NOT want to drink it.  Plus, while it's extremely unlikely that any life exists in this water (or that it doesn't for very long, due to lack of atmosphere and constant exposure to solar radiation), we do know there are examples of bacteria on Earth with extreme resistance to radiation (which lends credence to the theory that life on Earth was spawned via panspermia), so it's plausible to assume some organisms can survive the short period of time these water flows are active.  We've no idea what such life could do to us...and I doubt anyone wants to be the guinea pig.

I'm sure it will still be imported at some time, exclusive restaurants serving extremely expensive dishes seasoned with water from Mars, together with wine aged under low gravity. That will probably be a big component to finance further settlement of Mars. That's just how our screwed up world works.
First make room for space whisky http://www.star2.com/food/food-news/2015/09/24/how-zero-gravity-altered-flavours-of-whisky-aged-in-space/

Oh, I wasn't saying it couldn't potentially be useful for use in the future.  The current serious issue is that it's nearly impossible to sterilize objects sent from Earth to Mars.  Due to the resilience of bacteria to ionization, radiation etc... so until we can even approach these features in a way we can limit exposure, or completely stop the exposure, we probably won't be going anywhere near those sites for a bit. (NASA does not want to be introducing Earth organisms into environments where it could flourish on other planets, without knowing they aren't destroying an ecosystem we simply aren't smart enough to identify).  

We're still a ways away from settlement of Mars, given these facts.  But, it's being worked on for sure.