Mars appears to be covered in sand and dust; obviously, this is the product of a lot of erosion. Assuming that water erosion created most of this (can wind blown sand cause this ?), then where did Mar’s water go? Did it evaporate into space, or is it all frozen as permafrost under the ground?
Suppose we send people to Mars, does the abundant water mean that a Mars colony could expect to have plenty of water for growing crops, making oxygen, etc.?
Or is it likely that there is just a thin crust of ice just under the surface, with nothing else.
If Mars had large oceans in the past, could we expect to find fossilized remains of animals and plants that once lived there?
Hmm sounds like a factual question, so off to GQ…oops.
There’s a LOT of water on mars. I believe the poles have enough water that, if melted, it would cover the entiire planet to a depth of about 30-40 feet. Also, it seems that the water went underground all over the place. There are signs of recent water erosion in some places around the equator as well - the theory being that there is water in underground aquifers, and it occasionally bubbles out to the surface and flows downhill, cutting channels in the ground, before it sublimates away or sinks back under the soil.
Mars probably has enough water to support millions of people indefinitely.
Mars may have significant amounts of water in the form of ice, but enough to cover the planet to 30 or 40 feet doesn’t sound like enough to fill oceans. On the other hand there may have once been a lot more water there.
According to a currently accepted explanation, Mars’ core cooled billions of years ago and it lost its magnetic field. Without its magnetism, it lost its Van Allen belts and was subjected to the full force of solar wind bombardment. This eventually stripped away the atmosphere, which in turn caused nearly all surface water to evaporate.
Based on what we know about life on earth and how well it can adapt to just about anything, it is a pretty safe bet to assume that there is still some type of life on Mars. Even if it is like bacteria, yet completely not, that would still be one of the most important discoveries ever. The most recent Mars lander found ice almost as soon as it started digging recently. It would be cool if it found life. It has its own lab to analyze samples for it.
There’s serious speculation (where “serious” means “posited in published papers and interviews by a holder of an accredited PhD at a major institution and in the Royal Academy of Sciences”, as opposed to “train of thought from a mildly drunk SF convention attendee”)* that Mars is the true cradle of life on Earth.
*Yes, I know he could be in both camps…
Yes, many astronmers believe that as out galaxy was forming, and Mars was closer to the sun, Mars had various oceans and might have harboured life.
Olympus Mons, the highest volcano known in our solar system also lies in Mars, and there’s good reason to believe that it was an active volcano once.
Volcanic activity, under the right circumstances, can lead to life developing.
As for the water, well the only remains we have right now are the martian ice-caps, but with the new Nasa mission going on at the moment we will hopefuly know much more about them.