Subj:	Water on Mars? Elementary My Dear Watson...
Date:	12/6/00 5:47:00 PM Pacific Standard Time

A. It's been well known for a long time Mars has two ice caps.

B. It is established that Martian poles expand and contract with the seasons as
do Earth's.

C. When ice disappears it either melts or sublimates, then you have what?

D. When snow or ice appears it precipitates.  Why should precipiation be
restricted
only to the frozen Martian poles?

E. Atmospheric cloud formations have also been photographed on Mars, therefore
moisture must have sublimated directly from the ice caps or evaporated from
surface
water into the Martian atmosphere to create them.  Physics being universal, it's
pretty
safe to say both happen on Mars.

F. What goes up (to become clouds) must eventually come down, (as
precipitation).

G. Water erosion channels have been photographed on the surface of Mars,
therefore what
must be present on the surface of Mars to create them?  It stands to reason you
will
find more evidence of them near the edges of the ever changing Martian ice caps.
Examine
the edges of whatever ice cap is currently shrinking and you are bound to see
your reflection.

H. A constantly changing darkening of the Martian landscape has been observed
for years.
Not an absolute, but it's a rather promising indicator of either soil changes
(due to absorbed moisture) or rudimentary plant life (ie. lichens, algae, moss)
responding to
changes in localized moisture levels.

I.  As the poles on Mars shrink and grow continuously, there must be a source of
atmospheric
and therefore surface water to create the snow and ice.  If all available water
was underground
as some have suggested, the cycle would be broken and the poles would gradually
disappear
or at least stabilize.  Would they not?

J.  Earth's atmosphere  and oceans are constantly being fed by the bombardment
of
micro-comets.  As Mars floats in the same space-stuff as Earth, does it not
stand to reason it
also has a constantly growing supply of the same elements supplied by the
micro-comets,
which includes H2O?

So ask yourself, why all of the excitement over NASA's sudden "discovery" of the
painfully obvious?
And why has it been "officially" held back until now, when it was originally
discovered decades ago?
There lies the real story and excitement.

Sentinel