[Infowarrior] - NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended

[Richard Forno]

NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended
07.31.08

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080731.html

  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.
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond at lpl.arizona.edu

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov

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