Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow 118
Riding with Robots writes "NASA reports that the Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds. According to the Canadian team running a weather experiment, a laser instrument designed to study how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars has detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers above the landing site. Data shows the snow vaporizing before reaching the surface, but one of the mission scientists said, 'We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.' Spacecraft soil experiments have also provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water."
Robot Santa has moved shop! (Score:2, Funny)
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I'm dreaming of a Red Christmas!
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Let me guess... You live in a crowded city and you want a BFG9000.
Re:Robot Santa has moved shop! (Score:5, Funny)
In Soviet Russia...we have Red Christmas!
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Can someone please hack into him and fix his naughty list? We have less than three months left...
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Re:Robot Santa has moved shop! (Score:5, Funny)
That's not snow! It's falling Ash! Run little lander, ruuuuun!
I think we'll be safe, as long as he's not falling chainsaw side down.
If there is water... (Score:5, Funny)
Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
Dan Quayle, 8/11/89 [quotationspage.com]
Turns out Dan was right ;)
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Re:If there is water... (Score:4, Informative)
Mars having 1/3 the gravity has more to do with its thin atmosphere than any lack of magnetic field. Having no magnetic field would remove protection from solar wind and radiation, making it unable to support life as we know it, but wouldn't actually affect how thick an atmosphere the planet could retain.
Mars has a magnetic field, btw. It's Venus that doesn't.
Re:If there is water... (Score:5, Informative)
bleh... that'll teach me to post when awake... Mars has no magnetic field, Venus has a very very weak one.
Re:If there is water... (Score:5, Insightful)
No problem, your sig excuses you.
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"bleh... that'll teach me to post when awake..."
As opposed to what, posting when asleep? I don't know that that would turn out much better... ;)
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It isn't that Mars "has no magnetic field"... the problem with the magnetic field of Mars is that it seems to be stuck in between cycles like what happens when the Earth goes through a magnetic pole reversal.
In other words, there are hundreds of "magnetic north poles" on Mars. That makes it tough for navigation and to help protect the planet from solar storms... as all of the magnetic polar regions get slammed at the same time. On the Earth, it is a remote spot in Canada and Antarctica that get hit, spari
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Without a strong magnetic field, the solar wind will strip away the atmosphere over time. Lighter elements especially, will be stripped away rapidly.
NASA [nasa.gov] seems to think that over 1/3 of Mars atmosphere was stripped away by solar winds over the years.
Also, Venus [swissinfo.org] is experiencing the same.
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How much power? (Score:2)
So how much power would be required to generate a field large enough to protect mars?
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Hey, all we need is a second LHC in the Mars core and the black holes will do the rest, right? Right?
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No, I'm trying to tell you that gravitational forces play a part in retaining an atmosphere.
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You said it the other way round, though :) Was a bit confusing.
Of course you're right, gravitational forces play a (very big) part in retaining an atmosphere.
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Haven't you ever watched Superman 4? We just dump all our excess nukes down a crater. Should be enough to get it started.
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We should use some of those nucular materials. They're much more powerful I hear. :)
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Do you think "Ze Governor of Cally-Fonia" would be interested in undertaking such a mission?
"Get your ass to Mahz."
Re:If there is water... IRONIC ftw! (Score:3, Interesting)
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How I miss the days when it was the Vice President that was the complete moron.
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Re:If there is water... (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:If there is water... (Score:5, Funny)
Yep, which means Mars supports vodka production, the key element in colonizing a cold, dark, windswept wasteland.
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the excitement about finding water on mars (Score:2)
should subside by now, and we should all be sobered by the fact that yes, there's water on mars, but only in the same way that yes, there's gold on earth: its rare and fleeting
Re:the excitement about finding water on mars (Score:4, Interesting)
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Um, this isn't quite correct.
As I recall, we have yet to detect a single star with a 'little rock' like ours. Period. And we can 'see' quite a few of them these days.
Surely if Earth were a common event, we'd be seeing them on something higher than 0% of our neighbors.
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As I recall, we have yet to detect a single star with a 'little rock' like ours. Period. And we can 'see' quite a few of them these days.
In the sense that someone standing on a beach can see "quite a bit" of water, sure. In the sense of coming close to a representative sample of what's out there, heck no.
And there seems to be (tho i could be misinterpreting you) a tone of "our wonderful advanced technology can't see it yet, so it must not exist," when in fact scientific discovery is frequently a matter of "hey, uh, remember that thing that was absolutely 100% true last week...?"
Which is what makes it fun!
And then, of course, there's this [msn.com].
White Christmas? (Score:2, Funny)
OK, so any chance of a white Christmas on Mars?
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Yes. Kim Stanley Robinson is writing it now.
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Canadians? Snow? Mars? (Score:4, Funny)
Is it April 1st again?
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No. Here is photographic proof [ncku.edu.tw] of water on mars.
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Proof, nothing! That could be any clear liquid!
Canadian Funding rounds (Score:5, Funny)
Canadian Scientist: We'd like some money to look for Snow on Mars
Canadian Funding: Errr we have lots of Snow already
CS: Ahh but if we find snow on Mars then we can ski-doo on Mars
CF: Errr we can ski-doo here
CS: Well yes but if we find the snow first we'll get first tracks which means the Yanks will have to let us go on the manned mission
CF: Sweeeeet
Yes folks, its all about finding freshies and there is no lengths to which Canadians will not go in the search for fresh powder.
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there is snow outside? Man i got to get out mo.... waaaait *looks out window* there no snow. Theres not even snow up in frigging lakehead. And thats in moose land.
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Checking webcams... there's not even snow in Whitehorse yet. That guy must be a tourist. Don't tell him about the corners where it doesn't even snow most years.
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global warming will take care of that harhar. Seriously i was in waterloo 2days ago and it was tshirt weather.... canadian tshirt weather mind you (we canadians believe it is summer all the time and will wear tshirts as long or longer than people in southern states in an attempt to make summer last longer)
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Alternative ending.
CS: Well yes but just think about how fun sledding would be with 1/3 gravity!
CF: Sweeeeet
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With 26km of vertical [wikipedia.org], I'm bringing my skis.
Cue the colonists (Score:3, Funny)
Global warming putting a damper on your ski vacations in the Alps or Rockies? Not a problem!
Martian Lander Snow Angels next? (Score:5, Funny)
(Too bad the Hubble will not be able to take a picture of it though... http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/09/29/1846238 [slashdot.org] )
Re:Martian Lander Snow Angels next? (Score:4, Insightful)
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*blink*
Ok, how about panache then?
Re:Martian Lander Snow Angels next? (Score:4, Funny)
*blink*
Ok, how about panache then?
Is that what the "P" setting on my digital camera is for?
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Nonsense. Flash photography, when correctly mastered, can make any photograph infinitely better than without. Observe. [burrowowl.net]
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There is a problem with your browser? (Score:1, Offtopic)
No, NASA, there is a problem with your browser check. Try looking at the "gecko" version instead of trying to guess at the many names a gecko based browser may have.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow ... (Score:1)
eom
Neat, virga on Mars. (Score:5, Interesting)
Rain or snow, like virga, on Mars may not be consisting of water only. Here is the Wikipedia entry on virga:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga [wikipedia.org]
Also Universities Space Research Association has some information on virga:
http://epod.usra.edu/archive/epodviewer.php3?oid=47776 [usra.edu]
They have a excellent NOAA photo of virga.
That's how you know... (Score:2)
...it's just a dream.
They're at the Poles. Winter is coming. (Score:2)
They're at the Poles. Winter is coming. It does snow there, they will see more. There will eventually be CO2 condensation as well, but IIRC that's after the Lander goes to sleep.
If this is real, I'll be fascinated (Score:2)
Why do all the Mars pictures look so bad? (Score:1)
If we could only just get it to snow in Hell ... (Score:2, Funny)
Why didn't the damn bastard say "snows on Mars" instead, it could have saved $700 billion!
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The irony of it is, Hell's been frozen over this whole time...
Lets just start terraforming the damn thing! (Score:2)
Seriously, can we just start terraforming the damn thing already? Who cares if there is water there, lets just start sending over plants in protected spacecraft with their own water supply and see how they do with some exposure to the atmosphere. Hell, algae would probably do the trick better than plants. Or we could make some machines to do the conversion, if we even know how to do that. I'm sick of all this "oooh, it's not completely dead yet!" research, we should just start rebuilding the damn thing!
(i r
H2O Snow? (Score:2, Insightful)
Do they know for sure that the snow is H20 snow. Or could it be snow made of something else?
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That's actually far easier to determine than if it really was water that caused liquid erosion of the surface: all they had to do was to determine the temperature at which it evaporated.
"Dropo, you are the laziest man on Mars!" (Score:5, Funny)
This would be the perfect time for Santa Claus to conquer the Martians.
h2wha? (Score:2, Funny)
this dihydrogen-oxide will destroy the ozone layer
You bet (Score:1)
CO2 snow? (Score:2)
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I think AC has lost his mind. Not only are his posts completely off topic, but he's arguing with himself!