Martian Soil Not So Friendly Afterall

A second test of soil extracted from the surface of Mars by the Phoenix Lander suggests the existence of perchlorate, a highly oxidizing salt, that would create a harsh environment for plant life contrary to an earlier analysis that said the martian soil could sustain plants such as asparagus, green beans and turnips.

On Earth perchlorate is a main ingredient in solid rocket fuel and can be found in fireworks, pyrotechnics and other explosives. Scientists are considering the possibility that the substance could have gotten there by contamination before launch, however Phoenix used another fuel, hydrazine, to power its thrusters during it's journey to Mars.

"it is a reactive compound. It's not usually considered an ingredient for life," said Brown University geologist John Mustard.

Discovery Channel article here.

Ice On Mars

NASA scientists have identified the mysterious white substance uncovered by the Phoenix Lander as ice. Using Phoenix's stereo camera the substance was caught in the act of disappearing under the martian sunlight. The substance "sublimated", or transformed directly from a solid to a gas without passing through the liquid state. Sublimation is a characteristic of how water behaves on Mars according to spaceweather.com.

Hacker Attack Phoenix Mars Lander Web Site - Phoenix Finds Ice

Sara Hammond, a spokeswoman for the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, says a hacker took over the mission's public Web site during the night and changed its lead news story. The site which is hosted by the University of Arizona was taken offline while administrators worked to rectify the problem.
Wired News.

In the mean time, Scientists are excited about the possibility that Phoenix's thrusters may have uncovered ice near the surface of the planet during touchdown. "We were worried that it may be 30, 40, 50 centimeters deep, which would be a lot of work. Now we are fairly certain that we can easily get down to the ice table," said Peter Smith, a University of Arizona scientist and chief project investigator. CNN.

Images From Mars

The University of Arizona, a partner with NASA on the Phoenix Mars Mission has a great website with the first images sent home from Phoenix. Check it out here. Very detailed, but only black and white, so far.

An Interesting Read - Insight Into Phoenix Mission

As the Phoenix Mars Lander readies for the final approach and "7 minutes of terror" the geek in me needs to know more... surfed on over to NASA and the mission website to find some great images and a video walk through of the seven minutes, it's easy to see why the engineers are so concerned. A great find however is the Phoenix landing blog that started May 19th and has been updated by mission specialists ever since. The blog is a first had account of what is going on inside the project team and what's been happening with the vehicle as it approaches Mars and readies for landing. Consider this, it takes a signal from Mars 10 minutes to reach earth, the landing is over in 7 minutes, therefore the vehicle must be able to make all of it's own decisions regarding it's decent... it's on it's own. Good luck Phoenix!

Phoenix Mars Lander To Touch Down Sunday

The Phoenix Mars Lander has nearly five million more kilometres to travel but is said to be on track and on time to land on the red planet on Sunday. "All systems are nominal and stable," said Ed Sedivy, program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which built the spacecraft. "We have plenty of propellant, the temperatures look good and the batteries are fully charged." The craft which has a Canadian made weather station on board, will land in Mars' arctic and dig down into the ice-rich soil, to study the frozen water for evidence of carbon-containing chemicals.

At about 7:45 ET on Sunday, Phoenix will use superheated friction with the atmosphere, a strong parachute and a set of retrorockets to make it's touchdown on the surface, in what NASA officials call "seven minutes of terror," because only 5 of 11 previous attempts to land spacecrafts on Mars have been successful. Let's cross our fingers!

CBC story here.