[asb3pe]

I don't think iron oxide is magnetic.

Actually, Frank, it is. AKA Ferric Oxide, it's the stuff that coats magnetic tape and disk surfaces that allows us to write bits on them in order to do what we're all doing now....

Hmmm. But isn't "iron oxide" your basic RUST? Isn't rust non-magnetic?

Found some answers here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferric_oxide

Interesting stuff. Fe(2)O(3)... Three oxygen atoms in every molecule. If that's what's on Mars, then the most pressing matter for us humans is to find a way to release that oxygen in an efficient, economic manner!

Also, clicking on "Rust" in that link is interesting - if all that martian surface material *is* in fact "rust, or ferric oxide or similar, that page states that such a chemical reaction can only take place in the presence of water and oxygen... Life on Mars in the past, anyone? :-)

[blam]

Bringing Mars Into The Iron Age

"If you look at the soil composition of Mars, the one thing that really strikes you is that it's 5 to 14 percent iron oxide," said Dr. Peter Curreri, a materials scientist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. "It's almost ore-grade material."