Ice evaporating on Mars !!

Johnnytoxic · 20 Jun 2008 at 18:54

This is a pretty cool gif. I thought Mars temperatures were always below zero degrees so how could it evaporate?

Jokester · 20 Jun 2008 at 18:57

Low air pressure and being exposed to direct sunlight I would imagine.

Andrew_McP · 20 Jun 2008 at 18:59

I'd heard news about it, but that gif is pretty conclusive evidence! Excellent stuff, thanks for posting it.

Andrew McP

Johnnytoxic · 20 Jun 2008 at 19:00

"Martian surface temperatures vary from lows of about −140 °C (-220 °F) during the polar winters to highs of up to 20 °C (68 °F) in summers"

That answers that then.

Duff-Man · 20 Jun 2008 at 19:55

Johnnytoxic said:
"Martian surface temperatures vary from lows of about −140 °C (-220 °F) during the polar winters to highs of up to 20 °C (68 °F) in summers"

That answers that then.

Not at the poles, though.

As stated earlier - the extremely low atmospheric pressures will be the main cause.

Geffen · 20 Jun 2008 at 19:56

I've heard they been suffering from global warming since all those rovers landed. The US should have used electric motor to power them but the instead they opted for V8 petrol engines.

Dano · 20 Jun 2008 at 20:14

Read the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimation_(chemistry)

St0rmer66 · 20 Jun 2008 at 20:15

Must be global warming. Gordon Brown will be announcing extra taxes on petrol to help stop Mars from melting.

aardvark · 20 Jun 2008 at 20:28

presumably its not water its frozen carbon dioxide, in which case it wouldn't take much of a temperature rise to evaporate it (anything above -78 degrees - and thats at our pressure)

Kemik · 20 Jun 2008 at 20:39

Global warming!

Gotta get more MPG on those robots. Even the ones that don't move.

Duff-Man · 20 Jun 2008 at 20:58

aardvark said:
presumably its not water its frozen carbon dioxide

This is also entirely possible...

*Moangroan* · 20 Jun 2008 at 21:57

I also heard it has suffered global warming. I also heard a lot of the planets in our solar sytem are as well. Dunno how they tell...maybe a very long thermometer.

mrk · 20 Jun 2008 at 23:58

http://digg.com/space/Perfect_Evidence_ICE_on_Mars

BigglesPiP · 21 Jun 2008 at 00:24

I think they simply blew out of the scoop hole.

touch · 21 Jun 2008 at 00:32

*Moangroan* said:
I also heard it has suffered global warming. I also heard a lot of the planets in our solar sytem are as well. Dunno how they tell...maybe a very long thermometer.

Do they ask them to bend over? or just wait untill they have their backs turned?

Solari · 21 Jun 2008 at 00:52

Jokester said:
Low air pressure and being exposed to direct sunlight I would imagine.

It's a shop. I can tell by looking at the pixels, and I've seen many shops in my time...

[TW]Fox · 21 Jun 2008 at 01:08

Climate change obviously. It's all mans fault.