Facts About Mars

The Phoenix Mars lander is an ongoing success. It is creating its own Mars phoenix pics collection of some sort and is greatly contributing to science. I tried to collect some of the latest Mars pics direct from phoenix on board camera.

Mars phoenix pics collection.

Taken on sol 95 (Day 95) after Phoenix landed on the surface of Mars. This trench is called the “Stone Soup”. It is the deepest trench the Phoenix ever dug, about 7 inches deep. Scientists are very excited to analyze the composition of the soil at that depth.

Another picture of the “stone soup” trench where the depth is clearly seen.

As the Phoenix lander digs, it creates piles out of the dig. This one is called “caterpillar” which is a pile made from the “stone soup” dig. Piles like this also helps scientists identify the composition of the Martian soil. How the pile slopes and the texture of the soil provides information to the scientists. This pile though, does not seem to contain water ice.

A view of the Phoenix’s work place. Shows some of the trenches that Phoenix dug around his workplace. This picture was taken on Sol 90.

A Martian sunrise, taken during Sol 90. The sun doesn’t fully set during the Martian summer. The skylight shown above is a combination of atmospheric dust particles and ice crystals.

Taken during Sol 79. This picture shows a thin layer of ice on the surface of Mars, this picture was taken during sunrise and the ice disappeared after 6am.

This picture was taken on Sol 17. This was a very exciting moment since this was the very first time that Phoenix delivered soil samples to its MECA (Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer) instrument.

A 3D image of a Martian particle. Red is the highest point and purple is the lowest point. 3D images help scientists understand the dust particles that gives Mars its red appearance. The Phoenix Mars lander is the most successful Mars explorer to date. We are getting so close to knowing whether Mars contained an enormous amount of water before and if it is capable of sustaining life. Who knows, maybe Mars was once like Earth before. That’s all for now. Watch out for some more mars phoenix pics collection.

When the Phoenix launched into space and landed safely on Mars, it had 2 objectives:

1. Study the History of Water in All its Phases.
2. Search for Evidence of Habitable Zone and Assess the Biological Potential of the Ice-Soil Boundary.

On July 31, 2008 NASA confirmed that after a few failed attempts, water ice was accidentally found on a sample of soil collected by the robotic arm.

William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA said: “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.”

Tests are now being conducted in order to see if Mars ever supported life.

Mission Chief Peter Smith said “We’re looking to understand the history of the ice, by trying to figure out if this ice has ever melted, and through melting has created a liquid environment that modifies soil”

“We’re just getting the data back. Through this we also hope to resolve questions; is this a habitable zone on Mars, meaning that we have periodic liquid water, materials that are the basic ingredients for life forms?” he added.

And because of this recent discovery, the mission was extended until Sept 30. That’s 90 days more than the original end date. Scientists wants to be able to fully utilize the Phoenix and sample more soil and water to fully identify its composition.

This discovery is another breakthrough for the human kind. NASA is getting close to determining if life ever existed on Mars and if the planet is habitable. The question is, if in case NASA is able to prove that Mars is capable of supporting life. WHAT’S NEXT?

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.

Image credits: NASA/JPL