Mars Phoenix Tweets: "We Have ICE!"

Mars Phoenix Tweets: "We Have ICE!"

blog.wired.com

There is water ice on Mars within reach of the Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA scientists announced Thursday.

Photographic evidence settles the debate over the nature of the white material seen in photographs sent back by the craft. As seen in lower left of this image, chunks of the ice sublimed (changed directly from solid to gas) over the course of four days, after the lander's digging exposed them.

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Oh boy, they found some solid water and announced it. So how long before they tell us about the mud?
I personally think this is going to stagnate for years at "ice."

blog.wired.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting news!

I do want to know how they know its water ice (H20) without testing it. Maybe I'm missing something?

It says in the article that the proof is that the ice changed to gas within a few days after being exposed. I am not a scientist, but they make it sound like this is proof that it is water ice. Im just going by the way they have it in the article.

spelling edit

[edit on 19-6-2008 by raven bombshell]

this article is more interesting
www.msnbc.msn.com...

I know it's a different atmosphere, but this all seems fake

as if we are being prepared for something

Under different pressures it is definitely possible to go straight from a solid to a gas, just take a look at a phase diagram

Dry ice (carbon dioxide) will do the same thing. Most liquids will do the same thing under the same conditions. More testing needs to be done.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
this article is more interesting
www.msnbc.msn.com...

I know it's a different atmosphere, but this all seems fake

as if we are being prepared for something

For what? Jack Frost the alien, this is real...deal with it. The image in that article is an animation that has been desaturated (except for the ice) to show you what is actually evaporating...

Originally posted by MBF
Dry ice (carbon dioxide) will do the same thing. Most liquids will do the same thing under the same conditions. More testing needs to be done.

The air pressure is too low for ice to be liquid and the temperature is too high for CO2 to stay solid. There is a small time frame during the night where the atmosphere is cold enough for dry ice to form but the most you would get is a bit of frost...so we can assume this is H2O that has gone through sublimation...you can see the same results in your freezer.

[edit on 19-6-2008 by yellowcard]

Never mind....always helps to read article first. My bad. Inconclusive oven results is not what I would have expected though.

[edit on 6/19/2008 by jpm1602]

They must use those smokestacks they found on Mars to melt it,dont you think?I would if i was those advanced aliens up there.

Originally posted by alienstar
They must use those smokestacks they found on Mars to melt it,dont you think?I would if i was those advanced aliens up there.

I wonder what they would have done if it were a flat marble piece...that would have been awesome.