Mars -The Search for Water to Continue in Arctic "Wonderland Region"

The science team at the University of Arizona and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge were not disappointed by the failure to turn up water on the first test sample. Phoenix's nearly 8-foot-long robotic arm has only dug 2 to 3 inches into the soil, at a region named Dodo-Goldilocks. The ice layer, the team members say, is probably farther down.

The latest images of the trench from which the soil was taken show light-toned material that the scientists think could be ice protruding from the trench's side in a polygonal land form -- small mounds bounded by shallow trenches -similar to features that scientists have seen in the Arctic on Earth caused by subsurface ice.

Scientists think Phoenix's robotic arm just needs to dig a little deeper. 'This could be the tip of the iceberg,' one says. Phoenix researchers remained confident that the craft is in the right place to uncover veins of ice believed to lie only inches beneath the surface.

A soil sample was cooked twice in one of Phoenix's eight ovens over the last few days, according to William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. The first test reached 95 degrees, the second 350 degrees. "Had there been any ice, it would have melted," Boynton said. "We saw no water in the soil whatsoever."

The goal of the $420-million Phoenix mission is to find out whether Mars is, or ever was, suitable for rudimentary life forms. Phoenix landed near Mars' north pole May 25.

The science team will next turn its attention to a nearby region called Wonderland, where it thinks the ice layer is close to the surface.

The TEGA ovens are designed to reach 1,800 degrees, because different elements burn off at different temperatures. Tests over the next few weeks should help uncover any water bound up with the minerals, if not water itself, scientists said.

NASA's twin Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have found evidence that water was once plentiful in the form of standing lakes and streams on Mars' surface.

Scientists now hope to find and test water to help determine whether present-day Mars could be habitable. The last NASA landers to test for habitability on Mars were the twin Viking probes, which landed in 1976. Neither found any organic molecules that would be a good indicator of Mars' suitability for life.

Posted by Casey Kazan.

Related Galaxy posts:

Twittering From Mars -NASA's Tiny URL
Twittering from Mars: The Phoenix on Ice
Will the Mars Phoenix Mission Clear the Way for Manned Missions?

Source links:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-phoenix17-2008jun17,0,5940860.story
http://www.physorg.com/news132934254.html

Comments

[onetimetraveler]

with all the scientific minds of nasa, it amazes me that our probes always scratch the surface looking for life, on a dead world you would need to drill down thirty feet to find any source of life that may have existed there! we don't scratch the surface of the earth looking for dinasour bones...drill deep!

[Ty]

I agree with 'overtimetraveler' if it seems silly to just scratch the surface of a dry planet even the every day man can see this problem. there is a difference between being smart and having a high IQ.

[Captain_Sakonna]

And how exactly do you propose to "dig deep," while staying within the constraints of current technology and NASA's budget? Please don't try to play "armchair scientist/engineer" without considering the real difficulties involved.

By the way, they think they found ice now. There's an article at Space.com.