Phoenix Mars Lander Deploys Robotic Arm, Possibly Finds Ice

The Phoenix Mars Lander has successfully deployed its robotic arm and tested other instruments including a laser designed to detect dust, clouds, and fog. The arm will be used to dig up samples of the Martian surface, which will be analyzed as a possible habitat for life. A camera on the arm will allow pictures to be taken of the ground directly beneath the lander. The camera has already seen what may be ice, which was exposed when the soil was disturbed by the landing. The data collected by the arm will be compared to recent findings which suggest that water on Mars may have been too salty for most known forms of life.

I only hope...

[Tubal-Cain]

...that this lander does as well as the other two.

Black and White Ice

[Anonymous Coward]

They can't tell if it's ice or not because the photo is in black and white. It's 2008, why are the these image sensors not capable of color?

Re:I only hope...

[geekoid]

That would be nice, but in about 4 months it's going to be under a meter of frozen CO2.
So I'm not holding my breath.

Re:Extremophiles

[Kjella]

Well, on the other hand you can argue that if there was a niche here on earth life would have evolved to fit it given the obvious benefits like having no enemies. So if we don't find life here on earth, are chances really that great that we'll find radically different life living under the same conditions on other planets? I suppose that's a difficult question, since it's hard to tell how much evolution is path-dependent or if the same basic creatures would form anyway.

Re:Could be, could not be...

[FudRucker]

or just silica...

Re:How is this news?

[ACDChook]

Well, according to the incredibly accurate news reporting here in Western Australia, the rovers never happened. The report on Phoenix said it was the first successful landing of a craft on Mars in 30 years. :P

Re:Extremophiles

[Colonel Korn]

The (as of yet without an upper bound) size of the universe makes it very hard to believe there'd be no life in the universe other than on Earth.

Disturbed by the landing?

[bchernicoff]

The camera has already seen what may be ice, which was exposed when the soil was disturbed by the landing.

I have been wondering about this. I'm sure NASA would have taken into consideration that the retro rockets firing as it landed might melt ice and/or destroy signs of life. Right?

Re:Extremophiles

[AmigaMMC]

Exactly! When are we going to get rid of this narrow minded, human-mind driven beliefs that life has to look and act like what we know to consider it life? Just a few weeks ago scientist found another life form here on Earth living at more extremely high temperatures than ever before. Who knows what's out there...

Re:Lets get our priorities straight!

[plantman-the-womb-st]

Hmm, I would assume that the parent to your reply was meaning that humanity staying on Earth alone is the lost cause.

http://www.space.com/news/060613_ap_hawking_space.html [space.com]

Yes, the man that article references is truly only "pretending" to be intelligent.

Try again.

Re:Disturbed by the landing?

[justinlee37]

But shouldn't the sample still be collected from a different spot? I don't think we're worried about hurting the Martian ecosystem here or anything, we just want accurate samples.

Re:Extremophiles

[v1]

That's a good point I hadn't considered - life will tend to terraform an environment. Earth offers a much greater variety of environments than mars, and among them there are very few places where it's hard to identify the presence of life even with only casual observation. If there were life on mars, it would be everywhere since conditions are so similar everywhere and very little additional evolution would be required to colonize.

I think what they're looking for is the past presence of life. Hoping perhaps that mars got life fired up and then just about the time it started, there was too rapid of an environmental change which killed it before it got very evolved. Which is why they are looking for past evidence of liquid water. Water with its neutral ph makes probably the best place for life to initially develop. Maybe it's more correct they are searching for evidence of life on mars, not life itself.

Re:Extremophiles

[smaddox]

Silicon is a strong contender

Unlikely. Carbon oxidizes into a gas over the range of temperatures we are talking about, whereas Silicon oxidizes into a solid. The former has the advantage of removing carbon from the system - allowing for energy to be gained without a separate process for waste removal.

That is just one example. I'm not saying it is impossible, but there are reasons life is carbon based. It isn't arbitrary.

Re:OMFG OIL!!!!!11!!

[smaddox]

Yes, the US has very productive farm land. However, much of it is irrigated with aquifers, and the aquifers are not being replenished as fast as they are being depleted.

I'm not an expert on the area, but i think it is easy to say that the climate can and does change. Land that is perfect for farming now may not be in 50 years. Just look at the countries past - the great dust bowl? Sure some of that was caused by bad farming practices, but much of it was caused by drought.