It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
WASHINGTON (AFP) — In an unprecedented discovery, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has found snow falling from clouds on Mars, scientists said Tuesday.
A laser instrument collecting data on how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars detected snow from clouds about four kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft's landing site. The date found the snow vaporized before reaching the ground.
"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground."
Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by mikesingh
The snow apparently sublimated before it reached the surface.
Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by mikesingh
What kind of snow (or frost)? H20? CO2?
Care to speculate?
Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided dramatic evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.
Phoenix data also suggested the presence of calcium carbonate, the main composition of chalk, and particles that could be clay. Most carbonates and clays on Earth form only with water on hand.
"We have found carbonate," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA). "This points toward episodes of interaction with water in the past."
Originally posted by Phage
In the distant past? Possibly. I really do hope that someday we can get something (or someone) over there that will find real evidence.
You know what would be really cool? If my daughter was one of the ones who does it.
Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by mikesingh
But then, speculating that the frozen whatever it is, fell from the sky, is stretching it just a little bit too far. Maybe? Don't you think?
[SNIP]
"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground."
Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by ElectroMagnetic Multivers
Of course there is a possibility that falling ice could reach the surface. The speculation lies in his statements about the image he presented;
- That it is of water ice rather than some other material.
- That it is snow rather than frost. That it fell from the sky rather than forming in place.
Each layer of speculation can lead us further from the reality.
Originally posted by ElectroMagnetic Multivers
We have no idea of the reality, we have speculation, speculation is our friend. Mike is merely exciting the imagination.
This picture has been round a while, and I'm sure Mike has taken flack before for even entertaining the possibilities of snow on Mars, but now, he has even NASA claiming that there is snow on Mars. He got out the picture to remind people of what he has been saying for years (speculation on my part), or to get new people to consider the things NASA may not want to mention currently, is he wrong? No, are you wrong? No, we can't know at the moment.
Now this is big! Snowfalls on Mars? Looked far fetched and the thought would have been debunked outright. But all thats changed..
Snow on Mars is most likely to accumulate on slopes that face the north or south poles--that is, the coldest areas. It accumulates and drapes the landscape in these areas during one climate period, and then it melts during a warmer one.
Originally posted by mikesingh
That's snow!
Originally posted by seridium
So I am not getting the deal here I use NASA WORLDWIND its like google earth you can view Mars and on the north(Planum Boreum) and south(Australe Mensa) poles there is in fact snow so ? why is there such a big deal about the snow?
There is also snow on the Hellas part of the planet.