Mars | Universe Today

It's been a busy few days for the Phoenix Mars lander rumour-mill. On Friday, an article was published in Aviation Week reporting an undisclosed source from the NASA team analysing results from the Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) had come forward saying Phoenix scientists were in communication with the White House. Apparently there had been new, "provocative" results to come from the MECA, possibly a bigger discovery than last Thursday's announcement about the scientific proof of water in the Martian regolith. Naturally, the blogosphere went crazy in response to this news. Yesterday, the Phoenix team issued a press release focussing on conflicting results from the MECA and Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instruments. A MECA sample was found to contain a toxic substance known as perchlorate, usually an oxidizing by-product from industrial processes here on Earth. However, a recently analysed sample from the TEGA turned up no supporting evidence for perchlorate. The study is ongoing. Today, the Phoenix team organized a press conference to discuss a more positive view on the possible discovery of perchlorate, and fired back at recent allegations that science was being withheld from the public…
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It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface. This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) confirmed experimental evidence for the existence of water in the Mars regolith on Thursday. Whilst NASA scientists are not claiming that life once existed on the Red Planet's surface, new data appears to indicate the "potential for life" more conclusively than the TEGA water results. Apparently these new results are being kept under wraps until further, more detailed analysis can be carried out, but we are assured that this announcement will be huge…
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Meridiani Planum on Mars, where the Mars Rover Opportunity has been traversing the past four plus years, is not just covered with flat, endless plains. Of course, Opportunity has been entering and studying a few of the craters in the region. Here's a crater in Meridiani that's a whopper. This image from the HiRISE Camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) on the Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter. This crater is so large that the HiRISE image is entirely within it, and the crater rim is not visible. The most prominent feature is layered sedimentary rocks that look like a grand stairway. These rocks have been eroded, most likely by wind, or possibly flowing water. The original sand and dust were deposited in distinct layers within the crater; these layers now give the mounds their distinctive stair-stepped appearance, and are all that remain from this once extensive deposit.
Click here for a full resolution picture of this area.

HiRISE also has taken some great images of the polygon features found in the high northern latitudes, that form from the ground seasonally freezing and thawing. These are the features found around th Phoenix lander. Here's the latest interesting picture of polygons and a few dunes, too…
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The Phoenix Mars lander finally was successful in delivering a fairly fresh sample of Martian soil to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) oven on Wednesday and a "bake and sniff" test identified water in the soil sample. "We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."
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On July 23, Europe's Mars Express spacecraft flew only 93 kilometers from Mars' moon Phobos, and took the most detailed images ever of the small, irregular moon. Additionally, the spacecraft made other close flybys during the past few weeks, and creating a variety of images. The moon's grooved surface can be seen in the pictures quite clearly, but the origin of the grooves is not known. They could have been formed by ejecta thrown up from impacts on Mars, or if they could be caused by internal fissures result from the surface regolith, or soil, slipping into internal fissures. Whatever the cause, enjoy these new hi-resolution images of Phobos.
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The bright, hard surface feature beneath the Phoenix Mars Lander has visibly changed from when it was first imaged shortly after the lander touched down on the Red Planet. Scientists believe the area, called "Snow Queen" could possibly be ice. Thruster exhaust blew away surface soil covering Snow Queen as Phoenix landed, exposing a hard layer with several smooth, rounded cavities. Phoenix's Robotic Arm Camera (RAC) took its first close-up image of the area under the lander on May 31, the sixth sol of the mission. Now, more than 60 days since landing, cracks as long as 10 centimeters, or about four inches, have appeared in Snow Queen. A seven-millimeter (less than one-third inch) pebble or clod not seen there before has popped up on the surface, and some smooth texture has subtly roughened. These changes have been occurring slowly. "Images taken since landing showed these fractures didn't form in the first 20 sols of the mission," Phoenix co-investigator Mike Mellon of the University of Colorado, Boulder, said. "We might expect to see additional changes in the next 20 sols."
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NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scraped up some icy soil with its robotic arm and scoop and then attempted to quickly deliver the sample to the oven on board. But not enough soil made it to the oven; the icy soil stuck to the scoop. Engineers determined the rasping and scraping activity collected a total of 3 cubic centimeters of icy soil, more than enough to fill the tiny oven cell of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. However, images returned from the lander Saturday showed that much of the soil remained lodged in the robotic arm's scoop after the delivery attempt. "Very little of the icy sample made it into the oven,” said Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager. “We believe that the material that was intended for the targeted cell is the material that adhered to the back of the scoop.”

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This panorama mosaic of images was taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on board NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. This mosaic documents the midnight sun during several days of the mission, from Sol 46, or the 46th day of the mission to Sol 56 (that would be to July 12 - 22, 2008 here on Earth.) The foreground and sky images were taken on Sol 54, when the lander pulled an all-nighter to coordinate work with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The solar images were taken between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., local solar time, on the different nights of the 11 sol period. During this period, the sun's path got slightly lower over the northern horizon, causing the lack of smoothness to the curve. This pan captures the polar nature of the Phoenix mission in its similarity to time lapse pictures taken above the Arctic Circle on Earth.

The latest activities of the lander has brought it closer to analyzing a sample of icy soil in the TEGA oven.
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For the first time, the Phoenix lander stayed up all night. But there was no partying for the little lander, just hard work. Phoenix coordinated its schedule to work together with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to make joint observations to study Mars' atmosphere. More on that in a minute, but the other big news from the Phoenix lander is that the doors to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) oven successfully opened, and the device is now ready to accept a sample of icy soil. If you remember, way back in the beginning of the mission, on about Sol 8, the first time the science team relayed orders for the spring-loaded oven doors to open, the doors only opened partially and the team had to vibrate the oven to get the soil inside. But this time, the 10 cm (4 inch) doors stands wide open, and today Phoenix will perfect its techniques to quickly get the icy soil sample inside the oven before the ice sublimates.
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OK, everyone: get out your funky 3-D glasses for a whole new look at Mars! We've seen the smooth plains of Meridiani from Opportunity in 3-D; we've gazed upon the rocky terrain of Gusev Crater from Spirit in more than two dimensions. But now it's time to feast your eyes on Mars' arctic tundra as its never been seen before: in super frozen 3-D from the Phoenix lander! The image above shows a color, stereoscopic 3D view of the Martian surface near the lander, and is one of Phoenix's workplaces called "Wonderland." But wait! There's more…..
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For a geologist, looking inside a rock is essential to help determine the makeup and history of the rock sample. That's why geologists have rock hammers, and also why the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have their Rock Abrasion Tool. For future missions to Mars, or even for a sample return mission, one of the main goals will be to look for signs of life, past or present, that might be hiding inside the rocks. Scientists are working on a new, simple technique for detecting biological and pre-biotic molecules that become trapped inside the minerals in rocks.
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The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) continues to churn up stunning images as NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the Martian surface. However, today's example probably creates more questions than answers. Close to the Mars equator, south of Elysium Planitia, exists a crater and inside are some strange mounds that have so far eluded formal explanation. There are a few possibilities how these mounds may have formed and there may also be some examples on Earth too…
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Remember the amazing images of an avalanche on Mars back in March of this year from the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter? If not for two geologists studying landforms in Alaska, MRO scientists might not have been on the lookout for such an event, or may not have known what they were seeing. A serendipitous week-long trip to Alaska by Craig Kochel and Jeffrey Trop, geology professors at Bucknell University, helped them predict one of the most important, and breathtaking planetary observations ever made. Witnessing an avalanche, or landslide in action on Mars has helped us realize the Red Planet is still a dynamic, ever-changing planet.
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The Phoenix Mars Lander successfully used a rasp on the end of its robotic arm to drill into the frozen soil on Mar's arctic tundra. This effort loosened the icy material, which was then scraped up and collected in the lander's scoop. Images and data sent from Phoenix early today indicated the shaved material in the scoop had changed slightly over time during the hours after it was collected, which is a sign that the material includes water ice. Water ice sublimates, or evaporates on Mars surface because of the low surface pressure on the Red Planet. It can exist just under the surface, however, protected by the soil.
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A 3-D image of a trough in the Nili Fossae region of Mars shows phyllosilcates (in magenta and blue hues) on slopes of mesas and canyon walls, showing water played a role in Mars' past.

For all the Mars romanticists out there, we (yes, that means me, too) hope and maybe even dream that Mars once harbored water. And not just a little spurt of groundwater every once in awhile; we want the water to have been there in abundance and for enough time to make an impact on the planet and its environment. Now, proof of copious amounts of water in Mars' past may have been found. Two new papers based on data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) found that vast regions of the ancient southern highlands of Mars hosted a water-rich environment, and that water played a sizable role in changing the minerals of a variety of terrains in the Noachian period – about 4.6 billion to 3.8 billion years ago.
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It's not that the Phoenix lander's mission to Mars is over – not by a longshot. But Phoenix did stick a fork in it. The "fork" is a four-pronged thermal and electrical conductivity probe that Phoenix poked into the Martian soil for the first time. The probe tool can help the science team assess how easily heat and electricity move through the soil from one spike to another. These measurements can provide information about frozen or unfrozen water in the soil. The probe is mounted on the "knuckle" of Phoenix's Robotic Arm. The probe has already been used for assessing water vapor in the atmosphere when it is held above the ground.
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Remember the amazing image that the HiRISE Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured of the Phoenix Lander as it descended to Mars' surface via parachute back on May 25? Well, the HiRISE scientists have done a little more processing of the image, and have turned up an additional detail they didn't see at first: Phoenix's heat shield. The heat shield, which had been jettisons just after parachute deployment, can be seen falling toward the surface. You have to look really, really close to see it. But that's what these HiRISE folks do. It was incredible that they found the lander with the parachute in the image (go see the big, huge image they had to hunt for it HERE) and these guys get the eagle eyes of the year award for finding the heat shield.
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If humans ever build a city on Mars, perhaps (in its retirement) the Phoenix Lander can apply for a job with the city's public works department to scrape ice off sidewalks. Phoenix has been trying to dig down deeper into the "Snow White" trench and has been digging, scooping and scraping the ice layer that earlier soil scooping exposed. The robotic arm team is working to get an icy sample into the Robotic Arm scoop for delivery to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA). Ray Arvidson of the Phoenix team, known as the "dig czar," said the hard Martian surface that Phoenix has reached is proving to be a difficult target, and compared the process to scraping a sidewalk. "We have three tools on the scoop to help access ice and icy soil," Arvidson said. "We can scoop material with the backhoe using the front titanium blade; we can scrape the surface with the tungsten carbide secondary blade on the bottom of the scoop; and we can use a high-speed rasp that comes out of a slot at the back of the scoop."

"We expected ice and icy soil to be very strong because of the cold temperatures. It certainly looks like this is the case and we are getting ready to use the rasp to generate the fine icy soil and ice particles needed for delivery to TEGA," he said.
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And now we reach the third part of our trilogy on the human exploration and colonization of Mars. Humans will inevitably tire of living underground, and will want to stretch their legs, and fill their lungs with fresh air. One day, we'll contemplate the possibility of reshaping Mars to suit human life. Is it even possible? What technologies would be used, and what's the best we can hope for?

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Humans to Mars, Part 3 - Terraforming Mars - Show notes and transcript

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The Phoenix Mars Lander used its robotic arm to deliver a second sample of soil for analysis by the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory. Data received from Phoenix on Sunday night confirmed the soil was in the lab's cell number 1. This image taken by the the lander's Surface Stereo Imager shows the Robotic Arm scoop positioned over the Wet Chemistry Lab Cell 1 delivery funnel on Sol 41, or July 6. Test results will be compared in coming days to the results from the first Martian soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory two weeks ago. That laboratory is part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.

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Until humans can actually set foot on the Red Planet, the next best thing would be a sample return mission, to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. A sample return would exponentially increase our knowledge and understanding Mars and its environment. And in order to pull off a mission of this magnitude, international cooperation might be required, and in fact, may be preferred. The International Mars Exploration Working Group (IMEWG), organized an international committee to study an international architecture for a Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission concept. After several months of collective work by scientists and engineers from several countries worldwide, the “iMARS” group is ready to publish the outcome of its deliberations and the envisioned common architecture for a future international MSR mission, and they will discuss their findings at an international conference on July 9 and 10 in France.
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The "vibrating" done to get the first Mars arctic soil sample into Phoenix's TEGA (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer) oven may have caused a short circuit that could happen again the next time the oven is used, perhaps with fatal results. A team of engineers and scientists assembled to assess TEGA after a short circuit was discovered in the instrument, and came to a fairly disheartening conclusion. “Since there is no way to assess the probability of another short circuit occurring, we are taking the most conservative approach and treating the next sample to TEGA as possibly our last,” said Peter Smith, Phoenix’s principal investigator. Therefore, the Phoenix team is doing everything they can to assure the next sample delivered to TEGA will be ice-rich.
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With the Phoenix Mars lander in full science-operation-swing, the robotic arm has just scraped an "almost perfect" mix of regolith and water ice for its next analysis. Using a blade on the scoop, the robotic arm carried out 50 scraping actions across the bottom of the enlarged "Snow White" trench that was excavated on June 17th (22 sols since Phoenix touched down). Today, on Sol 33 of the mission, Phoenix has been preparing little mounds of dirt ready to be scooped up and dropped into the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) so the constituent minerals and water can be analysed. Besides, Phoenix has just built the first ever mini-sand castles on the Martian surface!
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Another groundbreaking discovery from Mars: Phoenix has analysed martian regolith containing minerals more commonly found in soil here on Earth, and the acidity is not a hindrance for life to thrive. These new and very exciting results come after preliminary analyses of a scoop of regolith by the landers "wet lab" known as the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) instrument. Although more data collecting needs to be done, trace levels of nutrients have already been detected. This, with the recent discovery of water ice, has amazed mission scientists, likening these new results to "winning the lottery."
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Mars has two faces. No, not those kind of faces, but the notable differences between the northern and southern hemisphere. Mars has lowlands in the north and highlands in the south. This disparity has long puzzled planetary scientists, but most concurred that early in Mars history, impacts shaped the planet’s two-faced landscape. But many disagreed whether several small impacts or one big one were responsible for sculpting Mars’ surface. Now scientists at the California Institute of Technology have shown through computer modeling that the Mars dichotomy, as the divided terrain has been termed, can indeed be explained by one giant impact early in the planet's history.
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