Water found on Mars

[Chreman]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ph...-20080731.html

I don't know how to quote off the top of my head, but here's some copypasta:

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or 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."

With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

"Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected from all the Mars simulation testing we've done. That has presented challenges for delivering samples, but we're finding ways to work with it and we're gathering lots of information to help us understand this soil."

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying soil with a chemistry lab, TEGA, a microscope, a conductivity probe and cameras. Besides confirming the 2002 finding from orbit of water ice near the surface and deciphering the newly observed stickiness, the science team is trying to determine whether the water ice ever thaws enough to be available for biology and if carbon-containing chemicals and other raw materials for life are present.

The mission is examining the sky as well as the ground. A Canadian instrument is using a laser beam to study dust and clouds overhead.

"It's a 30-watt light bulb giving us a laser show on Mars," said Victoria Hipkin of the Canadian Space Agency.

A full-circle, color panorama of Phoenix's surroundings also has been completed by the spacecraft.

"The details and patterns we see in the ground show an ice-dominated terrain as far as the eye can see," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera. "They help us plan measurements we're making within reach of the robotic arm and interpret those measurements on a wider scale."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
[email protected]

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
[email protected]

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters
[email protected]

08-195

[Epical]

Wow, this is pretty big news. >_>

[Souj]

maybe it's just because im not very scientological, but why is it a surprise theres water on Mars if we knew theres ice on Mars?

[Woozie]

In related news, liquid water was confirmed on Saturn's moon Titan recently. I was going to post a topic about it but didn't know if enough people cared. I'll post a link when I find it.

Edit: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=...-lake-on-titan

They found a huge liquid lake of water.

Edit 2: I'm an idiot, that's not water, is it?

Edit 3: Yes, I am an idiot. But the lake is still significant D:

Edit 4: Did I mention that I'm an idiot?

[Lee]

maybe it's just because im not very scientological, but why is it a surprise theres water on Mars if we knew theres ice on Mars?

Reason why it's big news because the presence of water = possibility of organisms around.

[Khamsin]

maybe it's just because im not very scientological, but why is it a surprise theres water on Mars if we knew theres ice on Mars?

Because so far, it's all been speculation on what may be present on mars from fly-bys and looking at pictures of what looked like it might have been ice. This is the first time they actually got a sample and verified that it really is water.

[Souj]

Reason why it's big news because the presence of water = possibility of organisms around.

last I checked the presence of ice = the presence of water
was I just assuming too much? >.>

edit: oh, I thought we've known about the ice for a few years now

[Woozie]

Ice doesn't necessarily mean liquid water. And not all ice is water ice (i.e. H20). Some of it is frozen carbon dioxide.

[Souj]

http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/3...youknowll9.jpg








though I suppose I knew about dry ice

[Sunrider]

They said themselves in the report the only special thing is that this is the first time we've had physical contact with Martian water; we've known about the ice ad the polar caps for decades.

[Jaybar]

In before Abominable Snowman sightings.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, my friends! I am quite interested (well, always have been lol).

[TheShadyMan]

I wish it was legal to hunt people down and kill them for shitty puns.

[Ramor]

I wish it was legal to hunt people down and kill them for shitty puns.

we'd have very few college professors left

[drewbixcube]

Honestly I don't understand why scientists think that all life has to be similar to ours? Why does every form of life have to be made of organic compounds and depend on water to "survive?"

If they find life like us what is there to say they might just look like us, talk like us, and have civilizations like us(not from our solar system at least since we can see the planets surface and we haven't found any evidence.)

[Jaybar]

I wish it was legal to hunt people down and kill them for shitty puns.

Ah you loved it!

[Kaylia]

Ice doesn't necessarily mean liquid water. And not all ice is water ice (i.e. H20). Some of it is frozen carbon dioxide.

You're correct, but they are still talking about solid water 99% of the time. When they are talking about frozen carbon dioxide, it's usually mentioned right next to it.

Anyway, the news was semi interesting. We suspected there was liquid water in the ground of mars for a while now, and confirming it doesnt really change much. I want some real discovery!

Honestly I don't understand why scientists think that all life has to be similar to ours? Why does every form of life have to be made of organic compounds and depend on water to "survive?"

Why?

1) Water is awesome
2) Carbon is awesome
3) They are both common elements (much more common than any other elements that could easily form complex structure)


I could write a long explanation, but it basically come down to those 3 points. The property of water (solvent) and carbon (form complex and stable structure) are unique, and the chance of finding one that doesnt use those is quite low. It could be something else than oxygen (there is some stuff on earth that use amonium I) think), but again oxygen has its benefit, and is pretty common.

In the end, water/carbon/oxygen lifeform is a sure bet, because we know it works pretty damn well. Another lifeform isn't "impossible", but it's hard to imagine something functional, that could evolve like we did considering the most common material in the universe

[edit]
Go read this wiki entry. It will give you better explanation than I did
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_biochemistry

[Souj]

Why?

1) Water is awesome
2) Carbon is awesome
3) They are both common elements (much more common than any other elements that could easily form complex structure)


I could write a long explanation, but it basically come down to those 3 points. The property of water (solvent) and carbon (form complex and stable structure) are unique, and the chance of finding one that doesnt use those is quite low. It could be something else than oxygen (there is some stuff on earth that use amonium I) think), but again oxygen has its benefit, and is pretty common.

In the end, water/carbon/oxygen lifeform is a sure bet, because we know it works pretty damn well. Another lifeform isn't "impossible", but it's hard to imagine something functional, that could evolve like we did considering the most common material in the universe

[edit]
Go read this wiki entry. It will give you better explanation than I did
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_biochemistry

I think what he's trying to get at is, we have no idea what can exist out there and there could be better more common elements for making life than water and carbon that we dont even know about. it doesnt even have to be a better more common element.
my opinion... I dont know, and I dont care. I'll start caring when either A) aliens come to kill us all, or B) we go to kill the aliens.

[Plow]

The first life form found on mars is going to be some bacteria that got there from something we sent.

[Kaylia]

I think what he's trying to get at is, we have no idea what can exist out there and there could be better more common elements for making life than water and carbon that we dont even know about.

The bolded part is wrong, because despite the size of our universe, it's just more of the same everywhere.

The periodic table you saw in high school include every atoms you could find in our universe...and more (some can only be made in laboratory). Many people forget this fact, and don't really understand that the size of our universe doesn't mean a nearly infinite number of possibility.

We may not be able to imagine another life form yet, but we can easily explain why "complex carbon lifeform" (or not complex) have a much better chance of happening than another life form

[Souj]

well then, my knowing next to nothing facts about chemistry/biology has not failed me. i'll just end my argument with we cant be 100% sure. unless we can. then fuck it, i give up. 4am why the hell aren't I asleep.