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It Really Looks Like Ice on Mars

by Nancy Atkinson on May 31, 2008

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Take a look at this image sent back from the Phoenix lander. On Friday, Phoenix scientist Ray Arvidson said there may be ice directly under the Phoenix lander, exposed in the blast zone by the retrorockets used for Phoenix’s soft landing. Friday’s image showed a small portion of the exposed area that looks brighter and smoother than the surrounding soil. On Saturday, Sol 5 for Phoenix on Mars, a new image shows a greater portion of the area under the lander. Scientists say the abundance of excavated smooth and level surfaces adds evidence to a hypothesis that the underlying material is an ice table covered by a thin blanket of soil. This is just what the Phoenix mission was hoping to find, and how incredible to land directly over your goal.

The bright-looking surface material in the center, where the image is partly overexposed, may not be inherently brighter than the foreground material in shadow. But the scientists are calling this area “Holy Cow.” Reportedly (via Emily at the Planetary Society) that’s exactly the phrase exclaimed when this image was returned. More pictures of this feature will be imaged using different exposures in an effort to determine if this really is ice.

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The other interesting aspect of this image is that the retrorocket nozzles are visible right at the top of the image.

We’ll keep you posted when there’s more information and data available on the area under the lander.

Sources: Phoenix, Planetary Blog

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About

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

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  • Jaco

    What if it’s a huge alien starship under the soil of mars, and that they have beens spying on us all of this time? Most unlikely :-) But if that is really ice, it would really be great for future manned missions.

    The way that the grayscale -> color conversion works, is, you take a picture in grayscale with a blue, green, and red filter. So you get 3 grayscale images. But then you layer them over eachother, specifying which is RGB, then you get the full color image. Google for “channels in photoshop”, that should give you enough to start with.

  • Glenn

    Look in the lower right hand area of image lg_1152 on the phoenix lander site and you will see, quite clearly, what appears to be a half-buried spring. Boy, I sure hope it’s something that fell off the lander, cuz if it isn’t…. eeek!

  • Poohat

    Oh god , the people who always think NASA and everything is one giant conspiracy are hilarious…OMG B&W photo’s a conspiracy to hide the TRUE color of Mars… Ummm look up into the sky at Mars , it’s red…

    Common sense aint so common… OMG COnspiracy!

  • David S

    “You’ll need to make sure that the images are in registration with each other and then use the histogram tool to correct the color balance.”

    this is correct. I will say though that I’ve rebalanced some of the color Mars photos, and you do get a less pink shy, and browner soil that way. It’s still very red, but with more details, and in cases where these no dust in the sky, a pale blue color. You can clearly see that the histogram is off from channel to channel. Once you get them more lined up the color pops. The quickest way is to look for a metal part on the lander and make that neutral gray.

    I do color corrections in Photoshop for a living. I don’t think Nasa is doing anything underhanded, but they do make the photos more red. It’s real hard to balance color sometimes, and the method that they use to render the color doesn’t always help.

  • Molecular

    If no one has taken a look yet, there is a new image at the NASA website (posted 6-1-08), which I’ve tried to post a link to several times, although unsuccessfully, clearly and unmistakably, showing ice underneath Phoenix Lander. In this particular image, there even what appears to be 2 holes made where there the thrusters seem to have melted some of the ice. The ice itself is smooth and shiny……distinctly different from that of the surrounding dirt which has a blown away look. I’m sure this image will be posted somewhere on the internet next. :)

    On another note, if someone looks closely at the image inset with the above article, you’ll see that there are actually beads of water on the leg of the lander to the very left in that pic. Melted ice splashing underneath as Phoenix was landing. I just noticed that as I was typing this. :)

  • alphonso richardson

    Water? YaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaY!!
    Let’s mix the cocktails!

  • Guy M. Broome

    There’s also a much less thrilling and simple explanation… not to be a killjoy… but what do combustion reactions [i.e. the very type of reaction that propels the Phoenix lander] produce? Carbon dioxide and *water vapor*. Meaning, it seems entirely possible, and indeed likely, that the ice is directly below the lander because it came from the lander.

    Perhaps? Or has that been ruled out?

  • gorrila

    When it’s confirmed that there is ice just below the surface – will all the conspiricy theorists, and psuedo scientists who post their own half baked ideas please re-read their original posts, and think again before posting more nonsense

  • Adam

    I tried to post a link to a colored version of this picture, but my comment was not allowed for some reason.

    I have showed the photo to a few friends but it has stirred up more controversy, not because the “ice”, but because the transparent leg on the lander.

    While editing the photo, I originally assumed that leg at the top left of the picture was part of the lander. When I started adding color and contrast, It appeared to be more of a shadow. You can clearly see the ground “through” the leg.

    Judging from the angle of the other legs’ shadows, that shadow must be off in the distance. Take another look and judge for yourself.

  • Doc B.

    Adam, while your desire to edit the b/w photo is well intentioned, I’m glad that you recognize it is an art project and not an exercise in proof. One point though: the “Shadow Leg” is a leg. The “ground’ you are seeing “through it” is the same textured corrosion that is on all the legs and is not the ground at all. One could easily make this any color we liked and it would prove nothing as it is very subjective.

    To the conspiracy nut skeptics:
    The “ice” may be ice – melted and refrozen by the lander’s rocket — or it may be a smooth patch of rock exposed by the same. Who knows, but we will find out eventually. Its guys like you who question it that have made NASA into some evil money wasting fascist dictatorship instead of the visionary pioneer dreamers we once saw them as. Its the same attitude that calls Bush Evil and all Christians hypocrites. Lets all shut up and watch the cool stuff guys! Its the 21st century!

  • Brandon

    One thing that is worth thinking about, if you embark on a scientific journey determined to find something, chances are your interpretation of the data will some how show the result you are looking for. For example, if you are determined to find ice on mars and you send a probe on a mission called, “Find ice on mars” , When the data comes back, chances are you will be able to analyze it such that somehow you find ice on mars. I’m not saying that there is not ice there, just that we should all be skeptical.

  • Adam

    Doc B, Yes, the coloring was simply my interpretation of what it should look like, not meant to be a real photograph. I have also started to think that is the actual leg of the lander, but I do not agree that the other legs show the “same textured corrosion”, I would say the corrosion level on the other legs is about 1%, and the one in question is more like 50%. quite a difference there.

    While the rock pattern does change between the light and dark areas, the “corrosion” looks amazingly like the other mars rocks. I’m not suggesting the photo is fake, or it’s not on mars, or anything crazy, I just want to know what it is.

    A few people suggested:

    1. reflection of the rocks off the lander onto the leg.

    hard to believe that much reflection happens in a shaded area with not much loss of quality or distortion you’d expect on a curved surface.

    2. dust on the leg

    there’s a lot more dust on that one leg than the other legs, and this does not explain the “rocks” that appear “on” the leg.

    3. dust on the leg with drops of water causing the rock-like look.

    if there was water vaporized opun landing, I do not think it would condense into drops large enough to show the “washed off” rock-like spots we see.

    And for your corrosion idea, it seems most plausible. If one of the rockets aimed at the leg, it could cause it to look like that, and would be different than the others. This would hint at an error in the self-destructive design of the lander.

    I am a skeptic, but not an anti-nasa conspiracy theorist. (others yes, nasa no). Bush is evil, christians are hypocrites, I do enjoy the discoveries nasa makes, but that is not relevant to the story.

  • dd

    Doc B. – thank you for telling all of these questioning minds to shut up. How dare they not have faith in the big science! Good job calling them names too!

    We (the masses) have no way to confirm that there is any lander on Mars, let alone confirm what it finds- so have faith in NASA! Believe the unknowable, unprovable truths that men of letters hand down from the mount of big science, and keep your questioning mouth’s shut!

    (I don’t think Dubya is evil, and EVERYONE is a hypocrite to some degree)

  • GUESSN

    There has been fair amount of discussion whether the appearance of this ice “fits” what is expected and why it doesn’t appear to be melted.

    Atmospheric conditions at Phoenix’s location are not hospitable for typical melted ice you’d expect to see on Earth.

    Temperature aside, the atmospheric pressure on Mars is a fraction of what forum readers are sitting in. Liquid water would quickly turn to a gas at Phoenix’s location – similiar to a naked astronaut’s blood if he/she forgot to get dressed before going for a stroll on the moon.

    The Mars polar region cycles thru periods of freezing/thawing. Being in Canada and trying to dig a new pond in March, I’ve uncovered solid ice under dirt in the garden. The freeze/thaw of ice is similar to glaciers in mountains – dust and debris will get push aside, resulting in clear ice that can be melted, bottled and sold for twice the cost of gasoline!

  • shall

    i would be thrilled if this were actually proven to be ice…however is it possible that it could be glass? caused from superheating the sand upon landing?

  • Hypernova

    I think they have made some more discoveries since this article was published. It seems they now have even more evidence that there is frozen water directly beneath the Martian surface.

    Anyway, @GUESSN the guy who says he can bottle glacial water from the mountains and sell it for twice the cost of gasoline: Where on EARTH do you reside? See, the rest of the human race is having an energy crisis and gasoline/oil prices are hitting record highs with no end in site. I can buy a gallon of bottled spring water for ~$.99, that same $.99 buys me about 1/5th of a gallon of gas.

  • Emiy

    wow!
    this is cool.

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