June 27, 2008 | ![]() |
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Phoenix Returns Treasure Trove For Science![]() NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery. "We are awash in chemistry data," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument on Phoenix. ... more Martian Soil Good Enough For Asparagus ![]() Washington DC (AFP) Jun 27, 2008 Martian dirt is apparently good enough for asparagus to grow in, NASA scientists said Thursday, as they announced the results of a soil analysis collected by the US Phoenix Mars lander. "There is nothing about the soil that would preclude life. In fact it seems very friendly," said Samuel Kounaves, the project's lead chemist at the University of Arizona in ... more Giant Impact Explains Mars Dichotomy ![]() The dramatic differences between the northern and southern hemispheres of Mars have puzzled scientists for 30 years. One of the proposed explanations--a massive asteroid impact--now has strong support from computer simulations carried out by two groups of researchers. Planetary scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, were involved in both studies, which appear in the June 2 ... more Game of two halves: Scientists solve Martian riddle ![]() For nearly 30 years, space scientists have wrestled with one of the greatest enigmas in the Solar System: why does Mars have two faces? Pictures sent back by the US Viking landers in the late 1970s unveiled Mars's northern hemisphere as an enormous lowland basin, where -- or so it was suspected -- a mighty ocean may have raged. But Mars's southern hemisphere is abruptly, bizarrely ... more Laser Fluorescence Could Find Life On Mars ![]() A team of scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom has developed a technique using ultraviolet light to identify organic matter in soils that they say could be used to document the existence of life on Mars. The researchers' proposed instrumentation could operate on any Mars lander or rover, they say, such as the current Phoenix mission or NASA's Mars Science Laboratory ... more |
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![]() ![]() 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 ... more Harris Selected For Potential New NASA Space Suit Communications System ![]() Harris has been selected for a potential seven-year, $58 million contract to provide the RF communications/navigation system for the next-generation space suit supporting NASA's Constellation program. Harris is a member of the Oceaneering International, Inc. team. The primary goals of NASA's Constellation Program are to maintain an American presence in low Earth orbit, to return to the ... more Mars Science Is A Sublime Affair For Phoenix Lander ![]() 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 ... more Computer Glitch Delays Mars Phoenix Lander Work ![]() An information glitch aboard the Mars Phoenix lander has caused the loss of some non-essential images of the Red Planet and delayed the probe's work by 24 hours, NASA said Thursday. "The spacecraft is healthy and fully commandable, but we are proceeding cautiously until we understand the root cause of this event," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion ... more |
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![]() ![]() NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander began digging in an area called "Wonderland" early Tuesday, taking its first scoop of soil from a polygonal surface feature within the "national park" region that mission scientists have been preserving for science. The lander's Robotic Arm created the new test trench called "Snow White" on June 17, the 22nd Martian day, or sol, after the Phoenix spacecraft landed ... more NASA Phoenix Lander Bakes Sample As Arm Digs Deeper ![]() One of the ovens on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander continued baking its first sample of Martian soil over the weekend, while the Robotic Arm dug deeper into the soil to learn more about white material first revealed on June 3. "The oven is working very well and living up to our expectations," said Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Boynton leads the ... more NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Inspects Delivered Soil Samples ![]() New observations from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander provide the most magnified view ever seen of Martian soil, showing particles clumping together even at the smallest visible scale. In the past two days, two instruments on the lander deck -- a microscope and a bake-and-sniff analyzer -- have begun inspecting soil samples delivered by the scoop on Phoenix's Robotic Arm. "This is the ... more Mars Phoenix lander offers up first secrets ![]() About three weeks after it landed on Mars, the Phoenix lander has collected particles that offer a snapshot of millions of years of life on the Red Planet, the team behind the probe said Friday. NASA's 420-million-dollar lander has also possibly located ice and is in the process of providing a 360-degree view from its landing site in the Martian polar region, with rocks and hills fading into ... more
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