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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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So, we now know that it snows on Mars
#9006379 - 09/30/08 01:26 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Next time someone tells you that that it'll be a snow day in hell before they do something, show em this article.
Seriously though, now that we know that there is not only water on Mars, but a hydrological cycle, the possibility of life just keeps going up and up.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/29/AR2008092903068.html?hpid=topnews
Quote:
Icy snow falls from high in Mars's atmosphere and may even reach the planet's surface, scientists working with NASA's Phoenix lander reported yesterday.
Laser instruments aboard the lander detected the snow in clouds about 2 1/2 miles above the surface and followed the precipitation as it fell more than a mile. But because of limitations with the technology, it was unclear whether any of the powdery stuff made it all the way to the surface.
"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway of York University in Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground."
In addition to finding snow, the Phoenix team reported discovering material in the Martian soil that had once been dissolved in water -- clays and calcium carbonate (limestone) that could have formed only in the presence of liquid water. Although the lander's instruments earlier found water ice below Mars's polar surface and had photographed surface fog and clouds, it has found nothing like liquid water on the surface. ad_icon
The presence of nutrients and other material that once dissolved in water, however, plus the continuing presence of water as snow, vapor and ice, is leading researchers to conclude that Mars's polar regions might have supported life in the past -- when the region was much warmer. Because Mars wobbles on its axis far more than Earth does -- in some very long-term cycles, the poles face the sun -- the northern region where Phoenix landed has, in the past, been warm.
"Is this a habitable zone on Mars? I think we are approaching this hypothesis," said principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona.
In addition, Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said that further analysis of the Martian dust by the lander's onboard laboratory has determined that it is as alkaline as ocean water, with a pH of 8.3. He said this finding also suggests that life could have existed on Mars.
Whiteway said the snow, along with frost and fog, began to appear about a month ago, as temperatures cooled on Mars. "This is now occurring every night," he said.
In an interview after the teleconference, Whiteway likened the snow to "diamond dust" that falls in the Arctic and Antarctica.
"What this is telling us is that water does rise from the ground to the atmosphere and then precipitates down," he said. "So there is a hydrological cycle on Mars, and now other experts will study the data and try to determine what it all means."
Although the Phoenix instruments could not determine whether the snow hit the ground, Whiteway said there are some indications that it does. Images of the thin but distinct Martian clouds can be seen on the NASA Web site at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix.
With daylight quickly diminishing as the Martian winter starts, the Phoenix is not expected to continue operating for many more weeks. The spacecraft has a "Lazarus" feature that could return it to operation when the sun returns, but the brutally cold temperatures during the winter are expected to freeze and crack parts essential to its operation.
Smith said that in the remaining weeks, the scientists plan to turn on a microphone that was designed to record the lander's descent in May. It did not work then, but Smith said, "We are going to try to turn on this microphone and try to listen to Mars for the first time."
Phoenix was scheduled to operate for 90 Martian days, known as sols, but the lander's robotic arm has been digging up soil and ice for more than 120 sols and delivering it to chemistry labs inside the lander. Smith said many of the mission's primary goals have been accomplished, although difficulties transferring the scooped-up material into the lander have interfered with some experiments.
In particular, researchers are eager to know whether the isotopic makeup of the water in the air is the same as the water in the soil, but they have not been able to load the proper material to find out. They have searched in vain for organic (although not necessarily biological) material in the soil.
Scientists have theorized that snow falls on Mars, but they had never before seen it in real time. Future research on the data collected by Phoenix will try to determine where the snow came from -- whether it originated in the ice-covered polar regions or evaporated from the broader Martian surface, or even from the large collections of ice below the surface. ad_icon
The Phoenix team was surprised in the summer by the presence of the chemical perchlorate in the Martian soil. Used in many industrial capacities and in rocketry, the potentially toxic chemical is also found in the driest deserts on Earth. Smith said its presence on Mars suggests again that there was once liquid groundwater and raises the possibility that life has existed in the planet's seemingly hostile environment.
Because perchlorate changes the freezing point of water dramatically, it could keep water in a liquid state at temperatures of 76 degrees below zero.
"This could form brines for microbes, which could then use the perchlorate as a chemical energy source," he said.
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apostle11
Zoom Zoomers



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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: Ferris]
#9006391 - 09/30/08 01:29 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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very interesting article!
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lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: Ferris]
#9006470 - 09/30/08 02:00 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Interesting! 
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monkeywrench
Why Not?


Registered: 09/16/08
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I hope we make it to Mars in my lifetime. This is exciting info!
-------------------- [quote]skalthren said: It's nice of you to imply that I've been brainwashed by the government, but the truth is that I'm simply intelligent enough to recognize the subtleties of these issues instead of going "durr hurr, weed should totally be legal!"[/quote]
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: monkeywrench]
#9006677 - 09/30/08 05:03 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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> I hope we make it to Mars in my lifetime
We already have. There are several robots currently operating on the surface and in orbit around mars.
If you mean people... what a waste of resources. I would much rather see us put those resources towards solving problems here on Earth. Once we figure out how to generate power without pollution, feed the hungry, clean up our waste, and control our population, then we should start to look towards travel to other planets.
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lIllIIIllIlIIlIlIIllIllIIl
Stranger

Registered: 12/16/04
Posts: 11,123
Loc: Texas
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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: Seuss]
#9006749 - 09/30/08 05:49 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > I hope we make it to Mars in my lifetime
We already have. There are several robots currently operating on the surface and in orbit around mars.
If you mean people... what a waste of resources. I would much rather see us put those resources towards solving problems here on Earth. Once we figure out how to generate power without pollution, feed the hungry, clean up our waste, and control our population, then we should start to look towards travel to other planets.
We won't last that long though.
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PlatformStrange
Most Ancient



Registered: 01/18/06
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We have not even been to the moon dammit.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UIw06kd--is&feature=related
we would probably fry in the van allen belt. maybe they should line everything with 3" of lead ?
-------------------- ================================================== "Confusion is when neither of your feet are left and your trousers have infinite sides each of which has infinite surfaces." "Do i need trousers where I'm going?" "NO, GOOD LUCK SOLDIER"
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



Registered: 03/12/06
Posts: 11,529
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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: PlatformStrange]
#9007653 - 09/30/08 11:16 AM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Or how about a foot of water.
Suess, why save Earth when we have a whole new planet to exploit? 
(I've always thought that there was a one in a thousand chance that we actually already exploited Mars, and that Earth was our lifeboat).
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SHiZNO
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Registered: 03/14/03
Posts: 1,467
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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: PlatformStrange]
#9008223 - 09/30/08 01:13 PM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
PlatformStrange said: We have not even been to the moon dammit.
[url=youtube.com/watch?v=UIw06kd--is&feature=related[/url]
we would probably fry in the van allen belt. maybe they should line everything with 3" of lead ?
 oh god
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Minstrel
Man of Science



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Re: So, we now know that it snows on Mars [Re: PlatformStrange]
#9009110 - 09/30/08 04:23 PM (15 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
PlatformStrange said: We have not even been to the moon dammit.
we would probably fry in the van allen belt. maybe they should line everything with 3" of lead ?
Wow.
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