Phoenix has also taken pictures of the trenches is has dug. A white substance was observed on the bottom of one of the trenches. Could it be water ice, or was it something else, such as a salt?
Watching the trenches for a few days revealed the answer as we have seen the white stuff disappearing!
Salt would not disappear. This substance cannot be frozen carbon dioxide as it is too warm at the lander site for solid carbon dioxide (the lander has a weather station so we know the temperature).The only substance we know that sublimates (changes directly from a solid to a gas) at this temperature and pressure is water based ice. The presence of water based ice is not unexpected...the Viking mission detected water vapor in the atmosphere of Mars and the Mars Odyssey satellite’s gamma ray spectrometer detected water ice near the poles.
Seeing it and watching it sublimate is still just cool!
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5 comments:
THIS IS FANTASTIC!! How that Mars lander can be launch from earth, travel to Mars, survive the landing, and still be able to dig a nice neat rectangle in the dirt!
Very interesting stuff,Hale.
I agree, THIS IS FANTASTIC!! All those scientists and support people have to coordinate every last detail to make this work. Incredible!
I am hosting some teachers here for a teachers workshop next month. We will be touring the Phoenix building here in Tucson where they control the lander. Look for a blog and pics in the near future.
hale, David Letterman had a joke last night that reminded me of your blog.....
The Mars rover has found salt and ice on Mars. It is now busy looking for the tequila.
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