Comments on: Phoenix Digs Deep for 90th Day on Mars

By: Jorge

Jorge — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:17:25 +0000

Er… that Jorge ain't this Jorge (whose mother tongue isn't even spanish), and I'd bet that the other Jorge is going to have a tough time getting replies if he asks questions in spanish.

Still, I'm in a good mood, so I'm going to reply to the first one: if you sublimate, you jump from solid to gaseous, without stopping at liquid. The individual molecules simply detach from the ice and become airborne. And since you never become liquid there won't be any mud, which needs liquid water to form. Mud only appears with melting, not with sublimation.

Anyone goodhearted enough for the second one?

E tu podias por uma inicial Ã frente do "Jorge", amigo. Assim torna-se confuso.

By: JORGE

JORGE — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:58:02 +0000

EL PHOENIX, DEBIÃ“ HABER LLEVADO CONSIGO ALGUNAS SEILLAS Y CULTIVARLAS EN MARTE DE MANERA EXPERIMENTAL, ALGO COMO MAIZ, TRIGO, NOPALES, FRIJOL, ETC… Â¿PORQUE NO HACEN ALGO ASI?

By: JORGE

JORGE — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:53:45 +0000

Â¿COMO ES POSIBLE ESA SUBLIMACION DEL AGUA DE ESTADO SOLIDO A VAPOR, SIN NISIQUIERA GENERAR UN LIGERO RASTRO DE LODO?, Â¿EN VERDAD ES AGUA?

By: Benzodiazepine

Benzodiazepine — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:35:14 +0000

What about an Invisible alien?
Be imaginative, lol.

Universe has some invisible power anyway

By: Bored Quiz

Bored Quiz — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:28:39 +0000

Is it going to bury itself?

By: Jorge

Jorge — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:11:35 +0000

Hm…

Wind could remove the top layer or put extra material in the trough. I can't imagine how wind could make it actually rise.

But wind could uncover buried stuff, yes. Maybe this is what they meant? Dunno.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:17:31 +0000

@Jorge: Wind?

By: Jorge

Jorge — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:18:06 +0000

How would that circulation of material work? I've been trying to wrap my head around it since I read the article, but to no avail. I can venture a guess as to how material would sink at the margins (if some of the ice sublimates each summer in the hexagons, gravity would do the trick, I guess), but I can't think of a way for it to rise back up in the center.

Any ideas?

By: Joe M.

Joe M. — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:50:58 +0000

So they chose to analyze dirt that is probably the same as the other two tests, or they could have risked going for an area that possibly has a salt-rich deposit. I personally would have gone for "the white stuff".