• more about #wateronmars more comments →
    RashidaOpossum: "urban hives" ? Whuh? Urban means of, or pertaining to a city. Did you mean sub-arian? Or do you know something you're not telling us? more »
    ras_d: It looks like there are ripples in the 'eroded crater' and to the SW. Those are classic subaqeuous bedforms. could be wind, but its nice circumstantia... more »
    bookwench: It's all stored in tanks underground where it's being recycled over and over by desperate martians who have never seen the sun. more »
    liesandslander: Ice Pirates, they just hit mars up first. theyll be back in another 2 billion years for Earth. more »
    russdanger: The lack of a magnetic field also makes it kind of a bummer.Weapons, shmeapons... we need that friggin' Wormhole Technology, John!.. more »
  • #spaceporn

    The Opals that the Martian Sea Left in its Wake

    The question at this point isn't whether Mars was once covered in liquid water — it's just a question of how long that water was there before it evaporated. This image provides new evidence that water washed the Martian shores for a tremendously long time. Long enough to reshape the rocks in that crater and to leave behind whole beaches of pearly, hydrated silica commonly known as opal. More »
  • #mars

    Yes, There Is Water on Mars — But You Can't Drink It

    Though NASA has been reporting for years that there is water ice on Mars, today the US space agency held a press conference to announce definitively that the Phoenix Lander has found traces of water ice on the red planet. As Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy points out, today's announcement was really about the continuation of the Phoenix mission, which was scheduled to sunset in the next few weeks. Now that the cool lander is scooping up hunks of ice in the sticky Martian dirt (plastered into the bottom of Phoenix's scoop, above), NASA has poured enough money into the project to keep it going at least through September. But pretty much every single news source reporting the Martian water story has neglected to tell you the most important thing about this "water ice." It's probably not drinkable. More »