Mining Mars from Houston 63
An anonymous reader writes "Computer simulations of what bits of Earth, Mars and Venus might be found on the moon point to new methods for extraterrestrial sample return. Because the moon is lifeless, its sterile condition gives a very rare laboratory for collecting what may be as high as 3 grams of Earth's past, from the half-ton of lunar rocks and soil that Apollo returned for study [3 grams (Earth-terran), 0.03 grams (Mars), 0.003 grams (Venus)]. While such interplanetary exchanges are now thought common, what is surprising is these pristine samples often have never exceeded a temperature of around 100 F. Any similar planetary samples found today in, say, Antarctica, would have been weathered, eroded, or contaminated."
Interesting stuff (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Interesting stuff (Score:4, Informative)
While recovering DNA may be hard / impossible (I'm fixing military aircraft for a living, not extracting organinc matter from rocks), we still can learn a lot of interesting things. After all, we can't extract DNA from a fossil, yet it teaches us (or rather, the guys who do that sort of thing for a living or as a hobby) a lot about the creature in question.
I am, however, reminded by a television programe I saw on Discovery Europe a while back... where they 'proved' - by setting up a simulated Mars-base in Antartica or somewhere - that human explorers might see signs of life that a robotic explorer would miss. And I'm sure they could set up a (simplified?) DNA-extraction lab in a potential Mars-base too, thus preventing any organic remains from beeing erradicated by the radiation in outer space.
DNA (Score:1)
"Weird, wild stuff," to quote Johnny Carson.
Here's the link (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Interesting stuff (Score:2, Interesting)
from Houston? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:from Houston? (Score:1, Funny)
Re:from Houston? (Score:2)
You're kidding. There's oil on Mars?
Oil on Mars? But NASA doesn't know anything about drilling for oil! Who shall we send?
Phil
Re:from Houston? (Score:1)
Re:from Houston? (Score:2, Informative)
<rant>Fuckups like you shouldn't breed. If we wanted the oil, we would appease Iraq so they could pump it all day long and bring the price to $10, not kick their leadership's ass.
Do a little homework, and ask the FRENCH about the oil and $$$. There are NO American oil companies profiting in Iraq. Only French and Russian. Listen to what Iraqi's who are outside waiting to go back say. Why is is that e
Previous research (Score:4, Interesting)
Real images [panspermia.org] of the fossils show bacteria-like shapes. There were claims that these fossils prove existance of life elsewhere in space but it seems more likely to me that they somehow came from Earth.
ASTEROID sample return. (Score:5, Informative)
a probe to asteroid 1998SF36 and get sample to
retrun to Earth.
Launch will take place 2003, May.
http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/index.html
Safe Sample Return (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:whois going to protect mars from US? (Score:1)
Re:Safe Sample Return (Score:2)
Yeah, but then you would have to take the samples (and astronauts, and gear) down into the Moon's gravity well, and eventually bring them back up again. Which is not to say that I'm opposed to a Moon base--it would be a valuable research site for any number of reasons. It's just that if you need a waypoint on the way back from Mars, why not use a preexisting continuously manned space station in earth orbit [nasa.gov]?
Funding un-manned mining... (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, I'm feeling cynical today.....
Mass, not weight. (Score:2, Informative)
Harumph! Grams are a unit of mass, not of weight, and thus independant of the gravitational force exerted on it. 3 grams on Earth is 3 grams on Mars is 3 grams on Venus is 3 grams in freefall.
Not only that, but the gravity of Venus is not one tenth that of Mars, it is closer to twice that of Mars: Venus is nearly as big as Earth. (Nor is the gravity of Mars only 1/100th Earth, it's about 1/3 Earth.)
Geez. If somebody was trying to be
Huh? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd say yeesh, read the article before you spout off your ignorance, but hey, this is Slashdot.
Re:Huh? (Score:2)
It wasn't even necessary to read the article, just the /. blurb, to figure out they were talking about mass fractions of lunar soil.