Is there water on mars (H2O)?

Question

I've heard people say there is water on Mars and I've seen the Ice caps photos. But is that stuff the same water as we have here on earth (H2O) or is it something else?

Answer 1

There is! And there is photographic evidence.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0504/Wat...

Answer 2

Vegetation? Can I have some kind of reference for that, please?

Answer 3

There is water in the north and south poles of Mars but it's only in a solid form of ice.

Answer 4

This is a link to what some people think are trees growing on Mars, heck the pictures sure look like trees but someone said they could be geysers of some kind.

http://members.shaw.ca/science1/mars-tre...

The pictures are from the Mars Global Surveyor.

Answer 5

The ice caps on Mars may not be water at all.  Most likely it's dry ice, which is just carbon dioxide (CO2 ).

Answer 6

yes,plus theyve seen vegetation

Answer 7

Mars definitly has some water... but know one is sure whethor some means a few flakes in the soil or entire glaciers at the poles.

The problem, like you said, is that we are not sure whether or not whatever ice we are looking at is water or not. The temperature and pressure cause CO2 to behave almost like water on Earth so any liquid or ice might not be water.

If there is water than it will definatly be at the poles. Water ice around the equator of Mars becomes hot enough to melt and evaporate. Once it evaportates it floats away and since Mars has no hydrosphere nothing replenishes that lost water. Over several billion years of lacking a hydrosphere Mars's equator has become bone dry. However, the poles do not melt as often if at all so any water that freezes there tends to stay.

It seems NASA is very hopeful about what they have taken pictures of with the Pheonix Lander is water ice, but their sceintific demeanor prevents them from jumping to any conlusions.

Answer 8

Yesterday I had a strange dream.

Inside the dream I was watching a discovery channel by "guided by a red spot of light" about Mars millions of years ago. Mars is once a green planet filled with life(not intelligent life but huge primitive species more like dinosaurs to me but they stand on two legs" on it however the planet was devastated by massive meteoroid impact.

The impact was so huge that it rip a portion of mars away forming the 2 moons around mars.  The Impact destroyed the atmosphere and recovery system of the planet. As the planet system (plate tectonics, weather system) and magnetic field gradually lost over time. Life cease to exist after few years life sustaining substance die off as the planet.  Water was freeze up underneath the surface with mixture of dry ice before the planet lost its atmosphere entirely.

The "red light guide" then started to explain the origin of life  but d**n i was wake up by my alarm clock.

Man that dream was so great...

Answer 9

Well, Let's see, the ice caps on Mars is made up mostly of Carbon Dioxide ice.  But there seems to be evidence of water ice on Mars, within those same ice caps, and hopefully other places.  That's exactly why we have a robotic mission there, even as we speak.  Actual water, H2O, on Mars will both try to sublime and freeze at the same time, presently.

The mission is called Phoenix, which is a robot, and it's doing experiments even now about the water, and where it all went.  There is clear evidence also that Mars used to be much wetter and warmer than it presently is.

Answer 10

The Phoenix lander found water ice on Mars and it is the same kind of water we have on Earth.

June 20, 2008

"TUCSON, Ariz. -- Scientists relishing confirmation of water ice near the surface beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander anticipate even bigger discoveries from the robotic mission in the weeks ahead.

"It is with great pride and a lot of joy that I announce today that we have found proof that this hard bright material is really water ice and not some other substance," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, during a Friday news briefing to announce the confirmation of water ice.

"The truth we're looking for is not just looking at ice. It is in finding out the minerals, chemicals and hopefully the organic materials associated with these discoveries," said Smith

The mission has the right instruments for analyzing soil and ice to determine whether the local environment just below the surface of far-northern Mars has ever been favorable for microbial life. Key factors are whether the water ever becomes available as a liquid and whether organic compounds are present that could provide chemical building blocks and energy for life."