NASA discovers flowing water on Mars

[Everlong]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2015/ ... water-mars

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet, this is HUGE international news today. You can read the article for more information, but basically these dark streaks are created by salt water at specific times of the Martian year. NASA has examined 3 percent of the planet's surface at a very close resolution to find them, and now it's oging to continue examining the service to find more and research them.

Pretty amazing stuff. Also saw a quote from a NASA scientist saying right now the expectation is humans will be sent to the vicinity of Mars by the early 2030s and to the surface of Mars by the late 2030s.

[Str8Shooter]

This is all a tie in to promote "The Martian" with Matt Damon somehow. Just watch.

[Messiah]

Pretty amazing stuff. Also saw a quote from a NASA scientist saying right now the expectation is humans will be sent to the vicinity of Mars by the early 2030s and to the surface of Mars by the late 2030s.

Damn... I can't even think about all the way until 2030.

[War Daddy]

Fantastic news but man, I dont think I could ever move there

[Westcoastvibes]

Matt Damon

[KaiserGlider]

Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

[Everlong]

I just want to emphasize that it's looking likely that we will PUT PEOPLE ON MARS IN OUR LIFETIMES

That is so fucking cool. We need to put more effort back into space exploration.

[Viazon]

How much knowledge does anyone here have about Mars? I mean, think about films like Total Recall. A piece of fiction in which Mars is made habitable. Is this simply a case of life imitating art, or were films like these made because there was always a general belief that people could live on Mars?

[Everlong]

How much knowledge does anyone here have about Mars? I mean, think about films like Total Recall. A piece of fiction in which Mars is made habitable. Is this simply a case of life imitating art, or were films like these made because there was always a general belief that people could live on Mars?

We've known for quite a long time that Mars was definitely the most realistic option for human colonization if we could find water. While we're still a long way off from colonization, this announcement is a huge step forward.

So there's always been some element of scientific fact behind these movies, if only just a sliver of it. Like, there's obviously a whole lot about movies like Total Recall that's BS, haha. But we've at least had a suspicion that Mars could potentially be our best bet for a while now.

[Messiah]

How much knowledge does anyone here have about Mars? I mean, think about films like Total Recall. A piece of fiction in which Mars is made habitable. Is this simply a case of life imitating art, or were films like these made because there was always a general belief that people could live on Mars?

The main thing that this discovery does is increase the odds that we will send people to Mars, primarily to do research. It will likely happen in our lifetime, assuming we live to old age.

However, as far as people living on Mars? I won't go as far as to say it's impossible, but its close to it. The logistics of it and the obstacles that would have to be overcome are why I say that. There is no guarantee that the people who get sent to Mars to do research will make it back alive, assuming they make it there. I've read about terraforming Mars, but that is still nothing more than a hypothetical at this point and something that would take a long time. Time = money, and unless it can be proven that the Earth is in some kind of immediate danger, that idea would probably (read: has a snowball's chance in hell) not get the public or financial support necessary. Even if it did, which it wouldn't, like I said there is still no guarantee it would work.

Things like this fascinate me. I love to read and speculate about the possibilities of humans living anywhere but Earth, if we will ever find proof of intelligent life, the universe, etc. So I've read a lot about it. I just can't foresee it happening (Mars being colonized). Definitely not with our current technology. And that is just the beginning of the issues. If it even became feasible to live on Mars, countries have proven they don't play nice when land is at stake.