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Ice on Mars' Surface?
dheffley
Member Posts: 25,000 ✭
Phoenix Lander May Have Uncovered Ice on Mars' Surface
Saturday , May 31, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. -
Scientists overseeing the Phoenix Mars Lander said Saturday they believe the spacecraft's thrusters uncovered a large patch of ice on the Martian surface.
That bodes well for the mission's main goal of digging up ice and testing it for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.
Project scientists can't yet be completely certain but have reached a consensus that the material is ice that had been covered by just a few inches of dirt, said Peter Smith, a University of Arizona scientist who is the chief project investigator.
The potential discovery was made by looking at an image taken under the lander. The image shows one of the craft's three legs sitting on course dirt and a large patch of what appears to be ice, apparently uncovered by rockets as the craft descended on May 25.
The spacecraft is equipped with a backhoe-like robotic arm that will be used to dig into the surface and retrieve samples for testing in the lander's small onboard laboratories. The lander was sent to a spot on Mars' northern regions in hopes of finding frozen water, but just how deep underground it would be found was unknown.
"We were worried that it may be 30-, 40-, 50-centimeters deep, which would be a lot of work," Smith said. "Now we are fairly certain that we can easily get down to the ice table."
The robot arm is expected to begin its first digging operations next week after several days of testing.
The final proof that the material is frozen water could take weeks, but close-up color images of the suspected ice being taken Saturday could improve the confidence level, said Horst Uwe Keller, the scientist in charge of the camera on the robotic arm. The image released Saturday was in black and white.
Once the arm starts digging, dirt and ice it scoops up will be deposited in several small ovens, which will heat the material. Measuring devices will test the resulting gases.
A short-circuit discovered Friday in one of the measuring devices was still being worked on Saturday, Smith said. But engineers were more confident they knew how to work around the problem and get the balky gas analyzer up and running.
Also Saturday, a hacker broke into the mission's public Web site and managed to change the lead story. The University of Arizona-hosted site has been taken down while computer experts work to resolve the problem.
The University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. is leading and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managing the three-month scientific mission.
Saturday , May 31, 2008
TUCSON, Ariz. -
Scientists overseeing the Phoenix Mars Lander said Saturday they believe the spacecraft's thrusters uncovered a large patch of ice on the Martian surface.
That bodes well for the mission's main goal of digging up ice and testing it for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.
Project scientists can't yet be completely certain but have reached a consensus that the material is ice that had been covered by just a few inches of dirt, said Peter Smith, a University of Arizona scientist who is the chief project investigator.
The potential discovery was made by looking at an image taken under the lander. The image shows one of the craft's three legs sitting on course dirt and a large patch of what appears to be ice, apparently uncovered by rockets as the craft descended on May 25.
The spacecraft is equipped with a backhoe-like robotic arm that will be used to dig into the surface and retrieve samples for testing in the lander's small onboard laboratories. The lander was sent to a spot on Mars' northern regions in hopes of finding frozen water, but just how deep underground it would be found was unknown.
"We were worried that it may be 30-, 40-, 50-centimeters deep, which would be a lot of work," Smith said. "Now we are fairly certain that we can easily get down to the ice table."
The robot arm is expected to begin its first digging operations next week after several days of testing.
The final proof that the material is frozen water could take weeks, but close-up color images of the suspected ice being taken Saturday could improve the confidence level, said Horst Uwe Keller, the scientist in charge of the camera on the robotic arm. The image released Saturday was in black and white.
Once the arm starts digging, dirt and ice it scoops up will be deposited in several small ovens, which will heat the material. Measuring devices will test the resulting gases.
A short-circuit discovered Friday in one of the measuring devices was still being worked on Saturday, Smith said. But engineers were more confident they knew how to work around the problem and get the balky gas analyzer up and running.
Also Saturday, a hacker broke into the mission's public Web site and managed to change the lead story. The University of Arizona-hosted site has been taken down while computer experts work to resolve the problem.
The University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz. is leading and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managing the three-month scientific mission.
Comments
heavens came first.
no reason why GOD couldnt have tested some things out on some big rock before making the masterpiece.[;)]
NASA is wasting time and money out there. the answers are here!
Former Member U.S. Navy Shooting Team
Former NSSA All American
Navy Distinguished Pistol Shot
MO, CT, VA.
no reason why GOD couldnt have tested some things out on some big rock before making the masterpiece.[;)]
Since God is infallible, it seems to me there would be no need for "testing"
If you believe in a perfect God, everything he creates a masterpiece by default.
'in the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.'
heavens came first.
no reason why GOD couldnt have tested some things out on some big rock before making the masterpiece.[;)]
NASA is wasting time and money out there. the answers are here!
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
quote:Originally posted by bobski
'in the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.'
heavens came first.
no reason why GOD couldnt have tested some things out on some big rock before making the masterpiece.[;)]
NASA is wasting time and money out there. the answers are here!
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
Saturn has a small solid core but is largely a gaseous planet. Jupiter may have a small solid core but is largely a gaseous planet.
Mars is the planet most likely to have experienced conditions that would allow free water on the surface which means it's the planet most likely to have experienced conditions suitable to life as we understand it.
And all the other rocks in space are too far away for such a mission.
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
Because Mars is the one we want to land on first.
quote:Originally posted by FrancF
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
Because Mars is the one we want to land on first.
Flash Gordon all ready did it![:D][:D][:D]
quote:Originally posted by Rack Ops
quote:Originally posted by FrancF
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
Because Mars is the one we want to land on first.
Flash Gordon all ready did it![:D][:D][:D]
Martian chicks are hot.
we put a man on the moon 40 some odd years ago.we can send a ship to mars and control it at will,we have sent out deep space probes and communicated with them for years out in deep space,BUT WE CANT FIND ANYTHING ELSE TO BURN IN OUR CARS BUT FOSSEL FUEL,,dinasour poop thousands of years old we have to depend on for our energy,,I think we are like good little mushrooms,,kept in the dark and fed poop
or OBL for that fact-
quote:Originally posted by FrancF
quote:Originally posted by Rack Ops
quote:Originally posted by FrancF
With all the big rocks in space, Why do we keep sending landers and rovers to mars? why not Saturn, Jupiter?
Because Mars is the one we want to land on first.
Flash Gordon all ready did it![:D][:D][:D]
Martian chicks are hot.
They would have to be, the tempature on Mars averages -81 ?F
Martian chicks are hot.
They would have to be, the tempature on Mars averages -81 ?F
That would require seriously padded bras, no?
HUGE waste of our tax money,in my opinion.Oh No,Russia is sending up another space probe,we gotta stay ahead of them[xx(]
Voyages of discovery have almost always, over time, paid off huge dividends to those who undertook them.
quote:Originally posted by cahas
HUGE waste of our tax money,in my opinion.Oh No,Russia is sending up another space probe,we gotta stay ahead of them[xx(]
Voyages of discovery have almost always, over time, paid off huge dividends to those who undertook them.
Well, im still waiting for my share of that big space discovery tax dividend check for my part in this[:)]
Well, im still waiting for my share of that big space discovery tax dividend check for my part in this[:)]
All in due time.
Mars could possess mineral wealth the likes of which are unimaginable to us
And guess who is the only country with the technology to get there [:)]
quote:Originally posted by cahas
Well, im still waiting for my share of that big space discovery tax dividend check for my part in this[:)]
All in due time.
Mars could possess mineral wealth the likes of which are unimaginable to us
And guess who is the only country with the technology to get there [:)]
O.K then,one big dilemma,we do not own Mars.It,s neutral territory.We start bringing back polonium only for us and several Countries are going to be rattling their Saber,s.
We think those have liquid water under their surface Right Now.
Mars may have had liquid water in the past, and may have some ice containing H2O now, but its pretty much certain it has no liquid water at all.
Still.... it would be interesting to see if it had microbes at one point
Makes me think they took some man made microbes [not necessaryily that germ warfare stuff]; just so they can say we found life on mars. [V]
NASA actually sterilizes these probes before they are launched for that very reason. Not to contaminate the planet with our Earth germs. Even if we don't find life on Mars, it's out there somewhere.