Twittering from Mars: The Phoenix on Ice

You know technology is kicking ass when something you report on one week announces the headlines the next.  That's what happened here: last week we covered the seriously slick Phoenix Lander twitter account, and over the weekend that same account broke some of the most exciting space news ever.  There's ice on Mars and we can see it.

On Friday afternoon the far-flung Phoenix focused its freshly-unfurled arm camera on the ground around its feet, and immediately spotted a shiny smooth surface.  This has been labeled the "Holy Cow!" site, as those where the first words uttered in Mission Control when they saw it. 

From this we can conclude that:

a) the NASA guys are as excited about this as people who work on SPACE! should be.
b) they are much, much politer than regular people, or
c) they are liars and have wisely replaced what they really said with a PG-placeholder.

The ice was revealed by the Phoenix's own descent thrusters, the hydrazine rockets blasting clear up to six centimeters of the loose Martian soil to reveal what lies beneath (and no, it's not Harrison Ford's murdered student).  This is probably the most excitement ice has caused since the Titanic, and a lot more positive in tone to boot.  As well as being cool and refreshing water is a massively useful supply for virtually every aspect of human habitation and industry - finding accessible deposits on any offworld location hugely enhances the likelihood of eventual off-world colonies.

Initially there was worry that the Lander was literally (instead of figuratively) on the rocks, as frozen or stoney surfaces can look similar.  Further analysis by NASA scientists (including such factors as the change in reflectivity of the surface - freshly exposed ice will start sublimating into the air, while rock kind of doesn't do that) strongly suggests it's the real H20 stuff.  Ask anybody in NASA what's up, and they will confidently say "We've probably found ice."  They will likely then add "Isn't it totally awesome?"  (Hint: the answer is yes.)

Before you ask the NASA guys to pick your lottery numbers, this wasn't a lucky strike - the Lander's location was extremely carefully chosen after study of HiRISE imaging of the surface by the Mars Orbiter.  This is exactly where the mission planners expected to find ice, and this is exactly how deep they expected it to be.  But it's just like prom night - you put in a lot of work, and you know what you want to occur, but no matter how much you plan it's still unbelievably exciting when things are actually happening.

The Phoenix Twitter stream.You need to be reading this. 

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Related Galaxy posts:

Twittering From Mars -NASA's Tiny URL

 

Twitter Emerges as Key Communications Channel in China Quake

A first look at fresh (Martian) water

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[Da' cheez]

"Holy Cow" indeed.
This is really exciting! There being ice on Mars can mean many things for the future...

[Saudi]

Seeing liquid water would have been easily done by deploying simple glass bowl face down and firmly on mars soil, it would have acted as a green house trapping sun warmth to thaw out any ice. Simple isn’t it?

[dominique]

i agree with saudi, they could have saved millions

[saudi]

Thanks Dominique,

Polyethylene bowl would be very effective and would protect against cosmic rays, and would make a small controlled and suitable environment for any microbiological growth if there are any traces of it, the Martian soil containing any frozen water would release it, but will stay to allow for the long hibernating biology to be active again and grow finding liquid water.

[ice_is_on_mars_and_so_am_i]

Absolutely brilliant news. That means more funding for space programs, possibilites of finding life on another planet. Can't wait to see what happens next.

I think I might make a trip there myself. This planet is getting a bit old.