A 'wow moment': Curiosity finds water on Mars as common as dirt

[TINY]

How was this missed for so many years?.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/wow-moment-curiosity-finds-water-mars-common-dirt-8C11270152

 

[Al Bumin]

Hmmmmmm

 

[Pepsi]

Read the bad news first.

Some bad news for manned exploration
SAM detected some organic compounds in the Rocknest sample as well — carbon-containing chemicals that are the building blocks of life here on Earth. But as mission scientists reported late last year, these are simple, chlorinated organics that likely have nothing to do with Martian life. [The Hunt for Martian Life: A Photo Timeline]
Instead, Leshin said, they were probably produced when organics that hitched a ride from Earth reacted with chlorine atoms released by a toxic chemical in the sample called perchlorate.
Perchlorate is known to exist in Martian dirt; NASA's Phoenix lander spotted it near the planet's north pole in 2008. Curiosity has now found evidence of it near the equator, suggesting that the chemical is common across the planet. (Indeed, observations by a variety of robotic Mars explorers indicate that Red Planet dirt is likely similar from place to place, distributed in a global layer across the surface, Leshin said.)
The presence of perchlorate is a challenge that architects of future manned Mars missionswill have to overcome, Leshin said.
"Perchlorate is not good for people. We have to figure out, if humans are going to come into contact with the soil, how to deal with that," she said.
"That's the reason we send robotic explorers before we send humans — to try to really understand both the opportunities and the good stuff, and the challenges we need to work through," Leshin added.

 

[Roger]

There is so much written about Mars that I don't know who to believe anymore.

 

[Wanker]

There is so much written about Mars that I don't know who to believe anymore.

NBC or NASA?

Seems legit to me.

 

[Macho Man]

Interesting Hmmmmmm