Martian Ice
Monday, 1 August 2005 22:58 pm
There’s a striking picture on esa’s website. It was taken by the Mars Express orbiter, a spacecraft that’s currently orbiting the planet of Mars.
Apparently the white patch at the bottom of the crater is ice!
Another reason I guess to go and check out this planet in person. However, other news today reported that manned space travels to Mars would result in lethal amounts of cosmic radiation to astronauts. This in fact would cause all kinds of problems for astronauts in the longer term. The research mentioned that it’s likely that 1 in ten astronauts would die of cancer after coming back from a trip to Mars.
On the other hand; a mars round trip would likely take about 3 years, so just think of the earthly threats that the crew WON’T be exposed due while they’re on Mars… What’s the problem?
Full article here
(courtesy of ESA, www.esa.int)