There's water on mars

[TV-VCR 14]

I did a search and browsed through the forum, I'm surprised this hasn't been posted yet. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080731.html

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

"Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected from all the Mars simulation testing we've done. That has presented challenges for delivering samples, but we're finding ways to work with it and we're gathering lots of information to help us understand this soil."

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying soil with a chemistry lab, TEGA, a microscope, a conductivity probe and cameras. Besides confirming the 2002 finding from orbit of water ice near the surface and deciphering the newly observed stickiness, the science team is trying to determine whether the water ice ever thaws enough to be available for biology and if carbon-containing chemicals and other raw materials for life are present.

The mission is examining the sky as well as the ground. A Canadian instrument is using a laser beam to study dust and clouds overhead.

"It's a 30-watt light bulb giving us a laser show on Mars," said Victoria Hipkin of the Canadian Space Agency.

A full-circle, color panorama of Phoenix's surroundings also has been completed by the spacecraft.

"The details and patterns we see in the ground show an ice-dominated terrain as far as the eye can see," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera. "They help us plan measurements we're making within reach of the robotic arm and interpret those measurements on a wider scale."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.quote>

[SimHoTToDDy 2,938]

LOL, nice picture at the end.

Otherwise, cool. Nice to see the Mars missions actually finding things.

[lucky7 73]

Well, finally something is found and presented to the public. I am sure our sister planet holds a lot more surprises.

[Mebert 5]

Wow, it's a good thing that I avoid paying taxes, or I might have a hissy fit when I learned they were being used to do this ...

[Easy Bakes 253]

After seeing the Ice patches get smaller it was only a matter of time.

There is sort of a Mars lander Thread here

https://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=138&threadid=99725&highlight_key=y&keyword1=Mars

[Explodingsims 3]

I'm not sure where I heard this, but If I can find a link to it, I'm pretty sure I read that any water any Mars was a toxic sulfur sludge.

Still...

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: Explodingsims I'm not sure where I heard this, but If I can find a link to it, I'm pretty sure I read that any water any Mars was a toxic sulfur sludge.

Still...quote>

 

And the Martians probably liked it that way.

[hamsterTK 93]

Cool!

This must mean that the Soviet olympic hockey team was actually martians who crashed at Kapustin Yar.

Wow, it's a good thing that I avoid paying taxes, or I might have a hissy fit when I learned they were being used to do this ...quote>

No offense but I'm glad we have NASA, one day I really think this will benefit us.

[Mebert 5]

Why, so we can go there?

There's nothing on mars. It's a barren thin-atmosphered ball of red rock a couple months away. It's not like any of us are going to go there, or, for that matter, have a reason to go there. We could totally trash Earth, burn every single scrap of coal, guzzle all the gas, hell, nuke the planet several times over, and it will still be more hospitable than Mars.

[fukuda 351]

There's a reason to go there: knowledge.

(that only applies to unmanned missions, manned missions to mars are useless imo)

[TV-VCR 14]

I do think that sometime in the future (in the next 30-60 years) we'll have the technology to make the planet hospitable. I also think that space craft would be fast enough to get us between planet and planet in a reasonable amount of time (not months but days). If you think about it, getting off of this green and blue globe  is crucial to survival (eventually). If something like a meteor or plague hits a populated planet we're not doomed. And of course, it removes most of the concern of overpopulation.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Originally posted by: TV-VCR I do think that sometime in the future (in the next 30-60 years) we'll have the technology to make the planet hospitable. I also think that space craft would be fast enough to get us between planet and planet in a reasonable amount of time (not months but days). If you think about it, getting off of this green and blue globe  is crucial to survival (eventually). If something like a meteor or plague hits a populated planet we're not doomed. And of course, it removes most of the concern of overpopulation.quote>

 

I dont see that happening  at all.

We may know what it takes to make mars semi habitable, Thicker air with oxygen ect....

We may even know how to do that.( lots of plants)

but we would not unless we had a sure idea of exactly how much  water was there for the plants to use.

I dont see you knowing that for sure with out a lot of maned missions.

[socalwu 0]

Well, let's hope we can live on other planets in the future.

[socalwu 0]

Well, let's hope we can live on other planets in the future.

[TV-VCR 14]

Originally posted by: Easy Bakes

Originally posted by: TV-VCR I do think that sometime in the future (in the next 30-60 years) we'll have the technology to make the planet hospitable. I also think that space craft would be fast enough to get us between planet and planet in a reasonable amount of time (not months but days). If you think about it, getting off of this green and blue globe  is crucial to survival (eventually). If something like a meteor or plague hits a populated planet we're not doomed. And of course, it removes most of the concern of overpopulation.quote>

 

I dont see that happening  at all.

We may know what it takes to make mars semi habitable, Thicker air with oxygen ect....

We may even know how to do that.( lots of plants)

but we would not unless we had a sure idea of exactly how much  water was there for the plants to use.

I dont see you knowing that for sure with out a lot of maned missions.

quote>

Well eventually it can happen. And by making it hospitable I mean in several different ways (i.e. living in glass domes with machinery that allow people to thrive and that sort of thing). And of course that issue of water. Only time can tell with that.

Hey, just wanting to be a bit optimistic.

[Hummer bob 1 4]

I was always fascinated with mars, for whatever reason. I guess I always wanted to see life on other planets besides earth, and mars seemed most likely to have life. Since there is water on mars, usually where there is water, there is life. ( single celled organisms )