Phoenix diary: Mission to Mars

[Rick]

Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago, convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging exposed it.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

More: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/06_19_pr.php

Pics: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/images.php?gID=0&cID=85

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7465419.stm

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/23/mars_water_ice/

[MarkS]

Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished

Hmm - in my experience it's the birds that eat the dice-sized crumbs ...

[Mike]

Yeah ok maybe not quite...........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7477310.stm

[Rick]

NASA scientists are pretty excited about the initial results of the Phoenix Mars lander's "flawless" first wet chemistry experiment which has revealed the Red Planet's soil to be "a close analog to surface soils found in the upper dry valleys in Antarctica", as wet chemistry lead investigator Sam Kounaves put it.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/27/phoenix_wet_chemistry/

[Ian]

It's a bit unfair to describe the chemistry lead investigator as "wet".

[mickw]

The Phoenix lander's first chemical sniff of Martian soil did not turn up any trace of the building blocks of life. Its next whiff could be its last.

Engineers said a short circuit that occurred last month in one of its test ovens designed to shake and bake miniscule soil samples could happen again when the instrument is turned on.

"Since there is no way to assess the probability of another short circuit occurring, we are taking the most conservative approach and treating the next sample ... as possibly our last," the NASA mission's chief scientist, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson, said in a statement Wednesday

More:   http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080703-ap-phoenix-last-bake.html

[mickw]

And it's done - Sorry, had to be said 

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has stuck a fork in Martian dirt for the first time. The spacecraft also has begun to use a microscope that can determine the shape of tiny particles in the dirt.

The activities, initiated on Tuesday, allowed mission scientists to test the procedure for using Phoenix's robotic arm to stick the four spikes of the probe into undisturbed dirt on the planet's surface.

The prongs of the instrument, called a thermal and electrical conductivity probe, are about half an inch (1.5 centimeters) long. Scientists can use the instrument to assess how easily heat and electricity move through the Martian regolith, providing information about frozen or unfrozen water in the dirt

More:  http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080711-phoenix-update.html

[Mike]

Interesting! Read this - http://news.oreilly.com/2008/07/the-software-behind-the-mars-p.html?article

The software is written entirely in C !

Look at the specs. of the processor they use !!

[Rick]

A study published today in Nature indicates that large swathes of the ancient Martian highlands, comprising about half the planet, contain clay-like minerals which can only form in the presence of water, demonstrating that the Red Planet once hosted "vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life", as NASA puts it.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/17/martian_lakes/

Water was once widespread on Mars, data from a Nasa spacecraft shows, raising the prospect that the Red Planet could have supported life.

Researchers found evidence of vast lakes, flowing rivers and deltas on early Mars, all of which were potential habitats for microbes.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7511523.stm

[Rick]

No comment: http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080720

[Rick]

Nasa's Phoenix spacecraft will try a new way of getting icy Martian soil into its onboard oven for testing, after it ran into problems last week.

The soil has proven to be very sticky, hampering attempts to carry out tests.

On its previous attempt, most of the soil sample collected by Phoenix's robotic arm got stuck in the scoop and would not fall into the oven.

Controllers will now try a different strategy which involves less drilling and more shaking of the scoop.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7528950.stm

[Rick]

Nasa's Phoenix lander spacecraft has for the first time identified water in a sample of soil collected from the planet's surface.

Scientists will now be able to begin studying the sample to see whether the planet was ever, or is, habitable.

The craft previously had problems transferring samples from its robotic arm to the onboard lab for analysis.

The success and the good condition of the craft mean the mission will be extended until the end of September.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7536123.stm

(Oops. Thought I'd already psted this...)

[Rick]

In a development which may untwist a few knickers around the internet, NASA scientists have now explained just what their Phoenix robot lander has found in the soil of Mars - and what the implications are for possible discovery of life on the Red Planet.

Following news that the White House had received secret briefings in advance of any public announcement, internet speculation was rife. Some believed that life - or anyway hospitable conditions for it - had been found. Others said that no, in fact proof positive had been found that Mars could not harbour life, perhaps casting doubt on the value of President Bush's ambitious plans to send a manned mission there.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/06/nasa_sez_mars_perchlorate_good_for_exploding_dragons/



* SCIENCE QUALITY WARNING: The chance that we are following this correctly is roughly equivalent to that of a man with no arms throwing a handful of jelly through a falling doughnut at fifty yards without touching the sides.

[Rick]

The US space agency (Nasa) has quashed any idea that it is hiding information related to discoveries made on Mars.

Nasa has acknowledged that its Phoenix probe has seen an unexpected compound - perchlorate - in the Martian soil but says the analysis is incomplete.

Scientists said they had not discussed the issue publicly earlier because they were unsure of the data's significance.

More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7544328.stm

[Rick]

In case you've been living under a rock on some distant planet, NASA apologizes for the intrusion.

The Phoenix Mars Lander has completed the tricky task of nudging aside a Martian rock roughly the size and shape of a VHS tape so that curious Earthling scientists could peer underneath.

The lander's robotic arm moved the rock, called "Headless," about 40 centimeters from its previous location during the mission's 117 Martian day on September 22. Phoenix had spent Saturday enlarging a trench close to Headless to make a suitable place to place the rock.

More: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/24/mars_lander_flips_over_rock/