The late space physicist Louis Frank wasn’t the one who pointed out that the small comets he had discovered might be the source of the Earth’s oceans. That conclusion came from the late Thomas Donahue, a highly respected atmospheric scientist at the University of Michigan, who looked at Frank’s discovery papers and said that if Frank was right, these comets would have brought in enough water, over the age of the Earth, to produce the oceans. Frank agreed: Ten million salty, small comets every year would be needed to keep the oceans in equilibrium. In this post, William Abbott bets that the recently discovered borax deposits on Mars probably have the same mineral ratios as the ones on Earth, as Mars is being bombarded by the very same small comets. And probably Mercury too, which leads Abbott to venture another bet: that ESA’s Bepicolumbo mission satellite, which will begin orbiting Mercury in 2025, will also find boron on that planet. Anyone want to bet against him? (PH)
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