[meteorite-list] Phoenix Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:45:50 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200807312245.PAA05342_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

July 31, 2008

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

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

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


RELEASE: 08-195

NASA SPACECRAFT CONFIRMS MARTIAN WATER, MISSION EXTENDED

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&amp;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

        
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Received on Thu 31 Jul 2008 06:45:50 PM PDT