MARS IS ALL WET

Well, not all wet, but (after about 67 days on the surface of the planet) lab tests on board Phoenix have confirmed water-ice two inches below the surface of Mars, and a panoramic image indicates water-ice all around.

Latest results:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080731.html

PHOENIX SCOOPS MARS

Phoenix has landed on Mars and begun to scoop the Martian soil, to test for possible water ice and organic material under the surface.

Here are some pictures from Mars, from NASA.

POSSIBLE ICE TABLE AT PHOENIX LANDING SITE





This image captured by the Robotic Arm Camera aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on Sol 6, the sixth Martian day of the mission, (May 31, 2008) shows a close-up of the "Snow Queen" feature under the lander.

Swept clear of surface dust by the thruster rockets as Phoenix landed, the area has a smooth surface with layers visible and several smooth, rounded cavities.

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute


MARTIAN SOIL IN PHOENIX SCOOP



This image from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) shows material from the Martian surface captured by the Robotic Arm (RA) scoop during its first test dig and dump on the seventh Martian day of the mission, or Sol 7 (June 1, 2008). The test sample shown was taken from the digging area informally known as "Knave of Hearts."

Scientists speculate that the white patches on the right side of the image could possibly be ice or salts that precipitated into the soil. Scientists also speculate that this white material is probably the same material seen in previous images from under the lander in which an upper surface of an ice table was observed. The color for this image was acquired by illuminating the RA scoop with a set of red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute

PHOENIX LANDING



Here's a picture, (2008-05-26) of the Phoenix Lander parachuting down to Mars, in this image captured by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

PHOENIX HAS LANDED!

A raw, unprocessed image of Mars
taken by Phoenix shortly after arrival on Mars...From NASA

Phoenix has landed on Mars. Launched in August, Phoenix used parachutes and reverse rockets to slow its decent to a solid landing on the North Polar, Arctic region of Mars.

Previous studies have shown the strong likelihood of a layer of H20-ice possibly as close as an inch below the surface. Phoenix is designed to dig into the surface and study the frozen water that it hopes to find there (including the possibility of organic material in the ice). Other experiments on Phoenix will measure moisture, dust and other meteorological properties of the atmosphere.

http://www.nasa.gov/

SEX AND DEATH ON THE WAY TO MARS

NASA is thinking about tackling the hard topics of sex and death in space on a voyage to Mars. Here's an interesting article from AP about this issue:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/05/01/on_trip_to_mars_nasa_must_rethink_death/

(Note: The article has been widely reprinted. The version above is one of the few which includes the actual author of the article. That is interesting, because the article contains comments from a number of people, speculation, and reference to a report from NASA that was obtained by the AP using the Freedom of Information Act.

I have not been able to find a link to the NASA report itself. I haven't found it on the NASA site, or any link to it on any of the articles I've looked at. There is a page with reports NASA has made public:
http://standards.nasa.gov/public/public_query_NASA_stds.taf

and this includes one report on spaceflight safety standards. However, it deals primarily with radiation issues:
http://standards.nasa.gov/public/public_detail.taf?Documents_uid1=6618&doc_name=NASA-STD-3001, Volume 1#.)