WEBVTT - Water on Mars 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:14.080 Forward Thinking. He there. Forward Thinking is back. Don't call 0:00:14.160 --> 0:00:18.079 it a comeback. We've been here for years. I'm Jonathan 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:22.000 Strickland and I'm Joe McCormick, and we wanted to announce 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:27.720 that the podcast is back and thank thank you people 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:32.800 for your support. We received numerous emails, tweets, Facebook messages, 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:34.680 pretty much anyway you guys could get in touch with us. 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.440 I think we saw smoke signals one day asking where 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:40.000 the heck is the podcast? Where's the video series? So 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:44.000 quick update. We do Forward Thinking in seasons and season 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:46.800 three had just come to an end in October two 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:50.360 thousand fifteen, and then there was discussion about whether or 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:52.880 not season four would happen, and that discussion happened well 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.400 above our heads. We all wanted to do it. Lots 0:00:56.400 --> 0:00:57.840 of people wanted to do it. In fact, at the 0:00:57.880 --> 0:00:59.920 end of the day, everyone said they wanted to do it. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.160 So we're not sure exactly what the hold up is, 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:04.679 but it's all solved now. So now that we're back, 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.440 we have a couple of podcasts that we actually recorded 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.399 before we went on hiatus and kind of sat around 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.199 in our vault and we want to release the first 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:18.480 of those today. It's all about water on Mars. Yeah, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.280 so this was recorded in was it early October? Very 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:23.679 early October? This was recorded several months ago, And that's 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.080 why you might hear us referring to things being in 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:28.440 the news that are not currently in the news, but 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.000 we're in the news at the time this was recorded, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.440 for example, water on Mars. But I hope you will 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:36.760 enjoy the episode anyway, because I do think it is 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.960 very interesting, and we hope you will stay tuned for 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.800 new episodes that we're going to start recording very soon. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:46.160 Right one more in the can, and then after that 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.240 it's all new territory. We have no idea where we're going, 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.120 no more than you do. And we don't even know 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.760 when we're recording yet because it's been so long since 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.360 we've all three sat down at this table. Guys, it's 0:01:56.400 --> 0:01:58.360 been months since the three of us have been at 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:03.080 this table together. I'm kind of I'm kind of reclemped. Yeah, 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.720 it's a little it's a little overwhelming. It's a little 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:07.560 overwhelming for some of us more than others, because we 0:02:07.680 --> 0:02:11.200 some of us have a podcast to record immediately after this. Sorry, Joe, 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.520 we're gonna wrap this up, so let's get right into 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.760 the water on Mars episode. And guys were so happy 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.000 that we're back. Can't wait to talk to you about 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:25.560 the future more really soon. Hey there, and welcome to 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.080 Forward Thinking, the podcast that looks at the future and says, 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:33.720 letting the days go by water flowing underground. I'm Jonathan Strickland. 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.760 I'm I'm Joe McCormick. Jonathan. I don't know if you noticed, 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:42.040 but right before this podcast I was quoting, uh, talking heads. 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.760 I did not notice. You were talking about the social 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.160 media platform Tumbler, which I cannot think of without thinking of, well, 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:53.959 I'm a tumbler. Nice. Yeah, As it turns out, I 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.880 had selected that one mirror moments before you and Lauren 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:01.160 came into the studio, so there was no collusion there. 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:03.600 It's I try to make these a surprise for everyone 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.960 in the room besides myself. I mean sometimes I'm surprised too, 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.720 if at any rate, Hey, let's talk about some water 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.160 on Mars, y'all. Yeah, well that was that was a 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.880 big headline a week ago. Yeah, when I was when 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:18.720 I was on vacation, and you guys were holding down 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:23.320 the fort um. I noticed, I, guys, I was in 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:27.440 a place where I think the internet got their last Tuesday. 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.320 Maybe I was in a place where it just information 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:35.080 just doesn't get there as quickly as everywhere else. So 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.440 I knew that there was going to be an announcement 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:40.960 that that NASA had something to announce that had something 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.960 to do with Mars. I was convinced they had found 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:48.119 Matt Damon. I thought that's what had happened. I thought 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:53.360 it was all just an elaborate, uh marketing scheme for 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.440 the Martian And it turns out that's only part of it. Well, 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:00.440 I mean NASA is talking to Ridley Scott and mentioned 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.440 that later on. But yeah, I know they had this big, 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.080 big press release that was like water is totes probably 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:11.680 on Mars, guys. Yeah, which, depending on how closely you've 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:13.840 been paying attention for the last several decades, you might 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:18.200 have thought, haven't we known this for a while? Yeah. 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:21.000 I thought that they discovered water on Mars quite a 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:25.680 few times, and they sort of have we keep discovering it, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:29.840 found it again, I guess. I guess here's the real problem. 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:31.880 Here's the reason why they have to keep announcing it. 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.719 We haven't brought a flag up there yet, so until 0:04:35.760 --> 0:04:39.080 you have the flag, it's not really official. So that's 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.520 the no alright. So here's the actual announcement. This, This 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.720 is what was actually announced that that they had uncovered 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.760 the most compelling evidence so far that liquid water under 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:53.640 certain conditions still flows on or just below the surface 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.159 of Mars. And we'll talk about what that means a 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:59.159 little bit later, but before we do that, I thought 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.240 it might be cool to to talk about why is 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:03.359 this a big deal in the first place, and also 0:05:03.440 --> 0:05:07.000 kind of lead up to the other discoveries that you 0:05:07.040 --> 0:05:10.480 are alluding to, Joe, the ones that you know, haven't 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:12.520 we heard about water on Mars before? And the answer 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:17.800 is yes. But there's reasons why this particular announcement is exciting. 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:22.279 So in general, the conditions on Mars are not favorable 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:26.080 for water for multiple reasons. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And we're 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.599 talking about liquid water. Liquid water because it's pretty cold, yep. 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:31.720 So usually if you're talking about pure water, it would 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:34.480 be an ice form. It wouldn't be in liquid form, right, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:38.080 it would freeze. And now occasionally, in some places on 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.800 Mars it does get above the freezing point. For fresh water. 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:47.040 The the warmest conditions on the equator of Mars can 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:50.960 sometimes get to like seventy degrees fahrenheit, which sounds nice. Sure, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.560 that's very pleasant. It's like San Francisco. Mars is basically 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:59.080 San Francisco most of the time. It's more like Antarctica 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.680 or worse. That is that is true, yes, um, and 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.080 depending on when you go to San Francisco can seem 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:10.760 that way. Also, unlike San Francisco, uh, Mars has no atmosphere, 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:14.800 and so that's a very thin one. Yes, that's the 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.880 other side of the problem. So the very cold temperature 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.840 means that water either freezes, but the thinness of the 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:25.120 atmosphere also means that the boiling point for water is 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.440 very low, so very quickly and easily sublimates directly into 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.800 a gas, the water vapor. And then you have another issue, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.520 which is that Mars, mars is gravity is not as 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.680 great as Earth's's, like thirties seven percent something along those lines, 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.520 somewhere in that range, and so some of that water 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.800 vapor gets boiled off into space and does not come 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.640 back to the water cycle. Right, It's not trapped the 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.560 way that it is here on Earth. Yes, so these 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:56.159 conditions all mean that that's why it's not totally covered 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:58.680 in water, right, that it's not wet, why it's not 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.479 wet exactly. So, But we have talked about water on 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:04.640 Mars many times before. And when I say we, I 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.479 mean human beings, I don't mean just this podcast. We 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.480 talked about Mars many times before. Yes, we have Mars 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:14.080 is awesome, uh, and we're doing stuff all the time. 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:16.720 I think we're gonna have another episode that links more 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.440 directly with the Martian in the near future to talk 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:23.640 about the technology in that uh, in that story. But 0:07:23.720 --> 0:07:28.640 let's talk about the various observations and hypotheses about water 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:31.440 and Mars. Sure, well, people thought there was water on 0:07:31.480 --> 0:07:35.000 Mars really before we had any good reason to think so. Yeah. 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.120 Back in the nineteenth century, there was an astronomer named 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:43.239 Giovanni Schiaparelli who described the appearance of certain physical features 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:48.120 on Mars as canally, not cannoli, which is what you're 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.640 supposed to take but you leave the gun, but cannally canally, 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:55.800 meaning channels. Now, the word canally looks a lot like 0:07:55.880 --> 0:08:00.880 the English word canals, right, So there were some people 0:08:00.960 --> 0:08:05.720 who translated canally into canals. Canals, however, implies that this 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.800 is a manufactured structure built right something that humans or 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.640 you know whatever beings Martians I guess in this case, 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.560 have dug out on purpose, right, as opposed to channels, 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.560 which could have been carved out through natural processes. Uh. So, 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.320 as we know, if there's even the slightest misstatement that 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.240 could be construed as the existence of life on Mars, 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:28.640 somebody's going to run with it. Yes, even before there 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:31.840 was a Facebook, there were moments like these. Uh in 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:35.520 this case, I know that literally anything happened before face. Yeah. 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.640 Can you just imagine what Perceval Lowell would have done 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:42.440 with Facebook. Perceval Lowell's American was an American businessman who 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:47.040 had an interest in astronomy, and he interpreted canally as 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:52.000 being canals and ran with that idea, really really pushed 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.800 the idea that Mars was a planet that had a sophisticated, 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.680 uh technologically advanced civilization that had this complex system of 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.720 canals carved into it that allowed the denizens of Mars, 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.920 the Martians, to transport goods and you know, vehicles and 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:14.199 get water to distant locations using this system. He really 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:17.319 went with that idea, despite the fact that no one 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.679 in the scientific community had actually proposed it at that point. However, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:25.079 the idea kind of took hold for a while, um, 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.280 not just in popular circles, but then the scientific community 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.040 began to say, well, in all, it's possible that maybe 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:35.840 these are our actual structures and not just natural formations. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.440 And if that's the case, then clearly there is some 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.160 form of intelligent life there. Yeah, so we should take 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.240 a better look at it. So let's develop some better telescopes. Yep. 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.440 And this happened very slowly. Obviously, it wasn't like an 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.840 overnight thing, although you know, it's easiest to look at 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:53.400 Mars when it's nighttime. In the nineteen twenties, some improvements 0:09:53.400 --> 0:09:55.600 in telescope technology gave us a better look at the 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.640 red planet, and that's when scientists began to observe the 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:01.319 geological formations that led them to believe there were snow 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:04.080 caps at the polls, and that there were canals or 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:07.200 channels one or the other that actually had liquid in 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:10.520 them on the surface of Mars. During that time, that 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.320 was what they believe because their telescopes were not so 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.600 sensitive that they could actually see into these channels. They 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:20.079 could just see the patterns that are yeah, that that 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.520 looked like they were channels or canals. You couldn't really 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.840 be certain, but they were making a best guess, uh today, 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:28.760 I mean, if if there are canals, there have got 0:10:28.760 --> 0:10:32.440 to be gondola's and and opera singers. I mean, there's 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.520 a whole like domino effect that goes on here. There's 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:40.560 probably you know, a giant casino that caters to those 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:42.880 folks like the Venetian Is that I guess it would 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:47.960 be the Martian Um anywhere. Yeah, I mean, you know, 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:52.280 we we see how this just leads to rampant speculation. Uh. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.360 At any rate, Time magazine at that at that point 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:58.080 reported that the scientific belief was that not only was 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.880 their water on Mars like flow water, but also there 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.719 was an atmosphere, a thick, warm atmosphere on Mars and 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:12.000 vegetation on Mars. British astronomer PM Rives postulated there could 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:14.600 even be intelligent life on the planet. This was all 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.120 based upon just casual observation using the best technology they 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.880 had at the time. They didn't have any obviously, they 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.280 had no evidence of such things. They were just drawing 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.959 conclusions based upon what little detail they could see sure, 0:11:27.080 --> 0:11:29.520 and and this would persist for the next couple of decades. Yeah. 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.439 By the nineties, there was still a belief that snow 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:34.800 would form at the polls, so that there was a 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:38.120 precipitation of snow, and that they would then melt during 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.400 the Martian summer and reform in the winter. And photographs 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.080 seemed to indicate that there was some vegetation on Mars. 0:11:44.080 --> 0:11:48.000 They were actually looking at this area around Mars where 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:50.640 there was some brown and green coloration and they thought 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:55.280 that that was uh indicative of vegetation. Um. By the 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:59.160 nineteen sixties we had developed better close up imagery of Mars, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:03.120 and scientists were beginning to revise their opinions about water 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:08.000 on Mars um. In fact, they began to dismiss earlier 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:13.280 ideas entirely, sometimes perhaps a little too readily. They dismissed 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:15.719 the idea that there was snow on Mars. This isn't okay, No, 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:19.959 there's not. There's no precipitation going on here. The areas 0:12:19.960 --> 0:12:22.960 we're looking at, at the poles on Mars, those can't 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:28.360 be snow. It's most likely that's frozen carbon dioxide, not water. However, 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:33.160 in Texas, the McDonald Observatory claimed to have found conclusive 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:36.320 proof of water vapor in the Martian atmosphere. Now, did 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:38.880 y'all know that I just went to the McDonald Observatory 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.560 couple of weeks ago. That you went to the actual 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.560 McDonald observatory, Right, You didn't just stare at a fast 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:48.440 food restaurant. No? No? In Texas? Yeah we um, My 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:51.320 wife Rachel and I went to Big Ben National Park 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.720 and McDonald Observatory is just north of there. That's really cool. 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.040 So we looked through the telescopes. I got to see 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.600 Saturn in its moons and that must have been actacular. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.719 It was amazing. There was a close up of the 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:09.000 terminator line on the moon and uh and stand uh 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:14.040 it certainly is, but it was really cool. If you 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.319 ever get a chance to go to the McDonald Observatory 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:18.679 for one of their star parties or other events, I 0:13:18.760 --> 0:13:22.760 highly recommended Russell. I'll I'm definitely putting that on my list. 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.920 I have never The only observatory I've ever gone to 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:28.559 is the one that's at um the telescope that's at 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.560 Firm Bank here in Atlanta, and I would love to 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.959 to travel to a few different places and check out 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:37.840 some other ones. Uh. So the observatory, the McDonald Observatory 0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:41.080 used US spectrometers and we'll talk more about them a 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.160 little bit later, and that's what allowed them to detect 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:47.720 water vapor. Uh. They made observations in nineteen sixty nine 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:50.839 through nineteen seventy and then decided they needed to take 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:54.800 a more concentrated approach to this, and they focused on 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.560 it from nineteen seventy two to nineteen seventy four, over 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.200 the course of what was nearly a full Martian Year, 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:05.199 and in that they were able to detect different varying 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:07.520 amounts of water vapor throughout the Martian Year. They were 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:12.280 always tiny, but then Mars's atmospheres very thin, as we've said, 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.120 so you wouldn't expect there to be a lot of 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.160 water vapor. But they were able to detect it throughout 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.000 that time. But by the nineties seventies, we were starting 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:23.160 to send stuff towards Mars. Yeah, and sometimes it would 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:27.600 get there. H So I had the Viking program right, yep, yep. 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:32.320 I recently heard a podcast in which they they they 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:34.440 do a trivia at the end of it's a skeptic 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:36.960 SKYDDV Universe. Give him a shout out because I love 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.080 that show. But they do a trivia thing at the 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:43.040 very end where the host quizzes the other folks on 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.120 the podcast. They are not given the questions ahead of time. 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.920 They have to try and figure out they're given a selection. 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.120 They have to figure out which one of the selection 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.720 they're given is fiction and which ones are science. There's 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:57.040 one fiction and then the rest are science. And one 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:00.280 of the science ones was that there have been already 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.360 missions sent to Mars, but only eighteen have been successful. 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.600 Those are the ones that actually don't count the fly by's, 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.720 so they didn't count fly by missions, just just one 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.240 sent specifically to Mars, either an orbiter or a lander 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.280 you know, or rover or anything like that. So less 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:20.160 than fifty success rate. Uh so this is a big deal. 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:24.560 In the nineteen seventies, specifically in the Viking two orbiter 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:27.520 sent back data that showed frozen water at the north 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:31.720 pole of Mars, and new theories emerged that suggested there 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:35.360 was probably a level of perma frost beneath the surface 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.240 of Mars, so you have regular covering up a level 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.720 of perma frost, and they even thought there might be 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.200 the possibility that the poles, it's not just that there's 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:48.640 ice form there, but rather there's an enormous body of 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.880 ice that is concealed by Regulus, and it's more or 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.840 less like a giant iceberg, except in the ground as 0:15:55.840 --> 0:15:58.680 opposed to floating in the ocean. So I thought that 0:15:58.760 --> 0:16:02.080 was pretty cool. That's upping ahead because obviously we studied 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.080 Mars quite a bit over the decades. But in the 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:08.400 nineteen nineties, orbiters sent by NASA and the European Space 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.880 Agency discovered more evidence of water, at least in the 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.720 form of ice. Not not flowing water, but ice on Mars. 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:19.440 There appeared to be evidence for precipitation and flowing water 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.760 as well in Mars's past, if not the present. So 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:28.280 they saw areas like geological formations that that suggested there 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.040 was definitely some flowing water at some point in Mars's past, 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:35.000 probably a weather cycle of some sort, precipitation of some sort, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.800 but they could not they did not directly observe any 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.800 of that, you know, happening present day. So the conclusion 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.640 was perhaps this was something that happened in the distant past, 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.680 and since then had things had changed. Um skip ahead 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:51.480 to two thousand and eight. That's when the Phoenix Lander 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:54.600 dug up some bright material that disappeared over the course 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.160 of a few days, and NASA concluded that it was 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.440 in fact water ice. It also detected the presence of 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.960 water vapor within the Martian atmosphere, and the rover's Spirit 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:08.760 and Opportunity also uncovered evidence of ice. Curiosity even drove 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.840 through an ancient river bed that held water billions of 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.040 years ago but no longer, so it didn't have to 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.920 ford a river or anything. In twenty fifteen, this year, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:22.160 the year that we're recording this, before the most recent 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:25.879 evidence was made public, NASA announced a hypothesis that billions 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:30.000 of years ago, the northern hemisphere of Mars was essentially 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:34.199 an enormous ocean, uh that a large portion of it, 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.160 at any rate, was underwater. So they drew this conclusion 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:40.679 based upon data that was gathered by the European Southern 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.480 Observatories Very Large Telescope in Chile and the W. M. 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:49.320 Keck Observatory and NASA Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. So 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.639 scientists calculated that one time there was enough water on 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.439 Mars to cover the entire planet, and an average depth 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.680 of four hundred fifty feet or about a hundred thirty 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.080 seven But the way that water works is usually not 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.919 that it's ring an entire planet. Yeah, it was actually 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.640 based upon their their guesses, because again these are all hypotheses. 0:18:05.720 --> 0:18:07.760 No one was around back then to check up on 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.359 their their work. That the northern hemisphere sections of it 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:16.159 were probably just a gigantic ocean, and that this ocean 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.879 had depths that would reach more than a mile or 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:23.160 one point six kilometers in some places. Uh. If that's correct, 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:24.960 that would mean that the ocean would have covered about 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.119 nine of Mars's surface, And you can compare that to 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:31.119 something like the Atlantic Ocean here on Earth that covers 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.720 sevent of the Earth's surface, keeping in mind that Mars 0:18:34.800 --> 0:18:37.640 is of course smaller than Earth. It's not like one 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:43.320 to one um comparison. Also, the Curiosity rover uncovered evidence 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:45.760 that water could be in liquid form on the Martian 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:48.720 surface due to salts in the Martian soil. We'll talk 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.280 more about this in a minute too. So the salts 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.120 could dissolve in water, and when you dissolve salts and water, 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.520 that lowers the freezing temperature of that water. So if 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.480 you are if you have the right type of salts, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.560 you can lower, you can significantly lower that that freezing 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:08.840 temperature um and so under those conditions, at least and 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.560 at least temporarily, the there could be liquid water on 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:18.480 Mars's surface. Uh. And the general hypothesis, which will talk 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:22.200 more about again in a little bit, was that the 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.280 materials on the surface of Mars could actually absorb water 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:29.760 vapor in the atmosphere and turn into liquid water that way. 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.000 So it's not like it's not like the ice was 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.560 melting and then flowing through, but rather that it was 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.119 being rained down on exactly. It was more that it 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.560 was kind of almost like a condensation sort of thing, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:47.000 except you know, really absorption, not condensation. Uh. So that's that, 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.679 that's kind of everything leading up to the most recent announcement. 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:54.040 So what was the most recent announcement. Well, it was 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.199 the newest and strongest evidence of flowing water on Mars, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.040 and it was it was actually search that was published 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:06.679 in the Nature Geoscience paper on September and then it 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.960 was picked up by by NASSA, which gave a press 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:12.720 release on it and then did a big announcement and 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:16.919 had a big media what would you call it a 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:22.280 media buffet or or or a lot of maybe water 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:27.920 cooler talk Martian water coolers. Yeah, and uh, I wanted 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.679 to point out, Yeah, the lead author of the study 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.439 was a graduate student from our own Georgia Tech right 0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:37.960 here in Atlanta, Georgia Tech. Go Bulldogs, wolf Wolf Well, 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:41.000 our city's owned Georgia Tech. Uh, and he was named 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.520 Legendra Oja. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. If not, 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.919 I'm sure all gets an email. But anyway, what was 0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.359 this new evidence? Of course, Jonathan, you brought up the 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:54.280 idea of fording a river. I I did hope when 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.240 we first heard about this, the Curiosity Rover had come 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.720 up to a river and then was given the option, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.679 l do you want to build a raft board it 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:05.800 or give the ferryman to barrels of salt pork. Oh. 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.760 I thought it was gonna be like the Mars equivalent 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:12.199 of Oregon Trail, Like, oh, the Curiosity Rover has got 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:18.000 dysentery and and broke a lego hair wheels were lost. Yeah, 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:20.680 now it has to go shoot a Mars bear. Yeah, 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:25.280 that's a great game. So yeah, that was not what happened. Obviously, 0:21:25.280 --> 0:21:28.159 the Curiosity Rover did not come across a large body 0:21:28.240 --> 0:21:32.119 of water on Mars. That's not how this discovery was made. No, 0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:34.639 in fact, it wasn't the Curiosity rover at all, but 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.680 it was following up on the same lead you mentioned 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:41.560 earlier about the yeah, the hydrated salts in the soil 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.600 of Mars. So the evidence came from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:48.240 the m r O, and what it was looking into 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:51.840 was that on some downhill slopes on Mars you can 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:55.439 see dark streaks that have been given the name recurring 0:21:55.680 --> 0:22:00.520 slope Linneer or RSL, and these dark streaks have a 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:05.560 tendency to grow darker and move downhill in the warmer seasons, 0:22:05.640 --> 0:22:09.040 and on Mars, the warm season means when the temperature 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.240 is above negative ten degrease fahrenheit or negative twenty three 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.359 degrees celsius, absolutely balmy. And then of course when the 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.080 weather on Mars gets colder again, they fade away. And 0:22:20.160 --> 0:22:22.480 there are a lot of these things, there are thousands 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.080 of them, and imaging instrument on the mr O is 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:28.520 captured images of rs L s at dozens of sights 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:30.960 on the surface of Mars. Right, so that leads to 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.399 the question what could be causing this this discoloration, if 0:22:34.400 --> 0:22:38.080 you will, this change of of the color of the 0:22:38.160 --> 0:22:40.919 soil on Mars through the warmer months and then the 0:22:41.000 --> 0:22:44.160 retreat of that in the winter months. And when we 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:47.119 want to try to figure out what is going on 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:49.919 with changes in in the color of an object, we 0:22:49.960 --> 0:22:53.920 can use a spectrometer, right, So there's an imaging spectrometer 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:58.400 called the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging spectrometer for Mars or the 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:03.800 cruisum chrism to uh that these researchers used to determine 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:07.560