Comments on: Latest Phoenix Images: Ice or Salt?

By: Eric Near Buffalo

Eric Near Buffalo — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:03:13 +0000

Robert…

It's "Clay…Bill Clay."

By: gene-the-machine

gene-the-machine — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:04:27 +0000

Haven't you heard of simulated reality? The white stuff is whatever our creators put there for us to believe it is. We probably took them by surprise and they are just buying some time now to figure out what to put there for us. It's just like in quantum reality – it's not that we don't know what it is, it's just nothing until we do the experiment to figure out what it is.

I guess it's paper – probably KGB files buried there by past soviet missions looking for a secure place.

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:05:36 +0000

could the soil be some sort of clay? that might explain some of the 'sticky' soil.

By: hunter

hunter — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 01:44:44 +0000

I guess it is too warm for it to be CO2 ice.
I am betting on this being ice.
Now, if the ice is full of little cryophilic fellas…..

By: Mr. LAME

Mr. LAME — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:50:11 +0000

buried UFO

By: Quantum_Flux

Quantum_Flux — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:12:39 +0000

I wonder how the topsoil got spread so thickly over the ice sheet.

By: Quantum_Flux

Quantum_Flux — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:10:39 +0000

Salt is quite a vague term!

By: marsbug

marsbug — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:05:35 +0000

That seems to be the consensus, but the TEGA results will give us a lot more clues

By: GBendt

GBendt — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:16:07 +0000

Salt is only white if it is purified. There isnÂ´t anybody on Mars who can do that job of separating brown soil from white salt.

Some time ago ist was proven that a layer of water ice some 3 km thick covers the north pole tegion of Mars. This is where Phoenix landed, and this is the reason why Phoenix landed THERE.

In permafrost regions like those at the northern coast of Alaska, there is a massive layer of white ice lying right under a thin layer of soil, and the polygonic surface pattern that soil displays is very similar to the pattern Phoenix has photographed at its landing site.

The fact that the soil at the landing site is so sticky is puzzling. Perhaps there are hygroscopic salt particles in the soil which attract water molecules that emanate from the ice below, these wetted salt particles might cling to the soil particles, thus making the soil sticky.

Regards,

GÃ¼nther

By: Bobolink

Bobolink — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:37:31 +0000

It looks like Johnson's Baby Powder to me..

By: neoguru

neoguru — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:16:19 +0000

I'm betting it's salt or some other white material. Even with a surface coating of dirt I would imagine water ice would "freeze dry" and evaporate over time.

By: marcellus

marcellus — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:16:12 +0000

Only 15 below for the high temperature. Mars must be like Minnesota.

By: Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:09:15 +0000

Dave –
The ovens can only be used once, — the materials inside can't be emptied and the ovens can't be reused. There are 8 ovens in TEGA, so Phoenix only gets 8 chances to bake the Martian soil.

By: Dave Hutchinson

Dave Hutchinson — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:34:57 +0000

What happens to the sample's after they are situated in the ovens. Are the ovens then deemed usless because of hoding waste product. How do they remove the soil once it is analised. Dave from England

By: Kevin F.

Kevin F. — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:50:52 +0000

I triple-dog-dare you, Tom.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:27:38 +0000

We just need someone up there to put their tongue on it. That will give us a quick answer!

Just don't lick the lander, you'll stick to it.

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:23:45 +0000

Great! There'll be an exodus!!

By: dmedici

dmedici — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:15:50 +0000

It's cocaine. No wonder we're so eager to go there.

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:11:38 +0000

They detected plenty of water (ice) there.. That is why they landed there.. But we are just looking at a picture at the moment. I guess they need to scrape it up and find out.. Which they will do..

By: Gerald, Walnut Creek, CA

Gerald, Walnut Creek, CA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:09:18 +0000

Seems like it would be easy to determine if it's ice: just wait a week and see if it's still there in the trench. If it's ice, the exposed surface will likly sublimate over time, so that the white patches will disappear. If it's salt, it'll still be there a year from now.

By: Ralph Rewes

Ralph Rewes — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:00:41 +0000

NASA can detect oceans on Europa and cannot tell the difference between ice and salt on Mars with a lab?

Be serious.

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 22:51:05 +0000

I really hope it is ice..