Russell,

Unfortunately, "in the past."  The "immediate past" in terms of geology
could mean a brief 1,000 or so earth years.  I'm not holding my breath for
ANY water on Mars in the here and now, and certainly not liquid water.
Chances are there hasn't been liquid water on Mars for millions of earth
years.  Water locked up in salts, I could see, but even significant amounts
of ice seems doubtful to me.  Nonetheless, we must bomb Mars to liberate the
Martians! (ok, got carried away there).

Gustaf

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Russell McMahon
> Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 7:30 PM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: [OT:] Wet Mars
>
>
> Data from Mars rover gives strong evidence that area was
> consistently wet in
> the past.
>
>     http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=13758
>
> (Remembering, as always, that "strong evidence" and fact are often
> correlated but not equal.)
>
> Note that the Moon's south polar ice, which at one stage was so
> evident that
> people would have bet their house on the evidence, is now more rationally
> discussed.
>
> Mars has also provided "strong evidence" for subterranean ice deposits,
> mainly in its south polar regions, but these have not as yet been proven.
> There are also many photos available which appear to show erosion channels
> from very large water flows in the immediate past down the sides
> of valleys
> where (apparently) sub-surface water has flown out of the water table when
> it reached a rift. Surface water on Mars would currently boil away almost
> instantly so such flows would be most spectacular to see.
>
> Assignment: Pore  over countless available Mars photos for
> evidence of such
> a flow in progress. Report back when you find one.
>
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