Martian Winter: Nasa's Phoenix Lander Detects Snow Falling On Red Planet!!!!!!!

by **J The Kidd** Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:22 pm

Mars could experience white winters, Nasa's scientists have revealed.

A laser instrument on the Phoenix probe has detected snow falling from
clouds about 2.5 miles above where the lander touched down on the
northern plains.

Jim Whiteway, the lead scientist for Phoenix's meteorological station,
said the busy lander had sent data back to Earth revealing snow, frost
and clouds forming, although the snow is vaporizing before reaching the
ground.

'Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,' Whiteway said.

'We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.'

Martian Winter: Nasa's Phoenix Lander Detects Snow Falling On Red Planet!!!!!!! L_1c3c2e2d17514811b95682ef15e8fe27

Martian Winter: Nasa's Phoenix Lander Detects Snow Falling On Red Planet!!!!!!! L_1c3c2e2d17514811b95682ef15e8fe27

The explorer also found evidence that the dust on the surface of
Mars resembles seawater in its chemical makeup, adding to evidence that
liquid water that once may have supported life flowed on the planet's
surface.

The Phoenix mission has been extended by NASA, which says it will
operate the lander until it dies in the cold and dark of the Martian
winter.

The Phoenix lander has already operated far longer than expected when
it was dropped onto the Martian surface in May, and its controllers
said they would squeeze every drop of life they could out of the
solar-powered lander.

'We are literally trying to make hay as the sun shines,' Barry
Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, California, told reporters.
Scheduled to last just 90 Martian days, known as sols, the lander has already operated for more than 120.

Martian Winter: Nasa's Phoenix Lander Detects Snow Falling On Red Planet!!!!!!! L_2c6ae2416c9746e4ac482aa5359fdc9e

Martian Winter: Nasa's Phoenix Lander Detects Snow Falling On Red Planet!!!!!!! L_2c6ae2416c9746e4ac482aa5359fdc9e

Scientists had known it likely snowed on Mars but the lander got unique measurements showing it happening in real time.

The lander has already gathered more evidence of water on the surface
of the now-dry planet. In July, the Phoenix team reported definitive
proof that water exists on Mars after the lander scraped up ice, and it
also found perchlorate - a chemical compound sometimes used by plants
and microbes.

It also sent back the first-ever image of a speck of red Martian dust taken through an atomic force microscope.

The latest analysis shows evidence of a carbonate chemical, likely
calcium carbonate - best known as limestone, said William Boynton, who
leads a team that operates the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas
Analyzer.

And further analysis shows the Martian dust is about as alkaline as
seawater, with a pH of 8.3. This provides more evidence that life could
have existed on Mars.

Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the University of
Arizona, said Mars wobbles more than Earth does as it spins, so
sometimes the poles are pointed directly at the sun.

They would be warmer at those times, perhaps warm enough to melt the
ice that Phoenix has confirmed lies just below the red dust.

'If you were to sweep away this thin soil layer on what looks like this
flat plain you would find it is more like a skating rink,' Smith said.

'Is this a habitable zone on Mars? I think we are approaching this hypothesis,' he added.

Smith added the scientists plan to turn on a microphone that was
supposed to record the lander's descent in May but which failed to do
so.

'We are going to try and turn on this microphone and try to listen to Mars for the first time,' he said.