bullseye for phoenix
There's a very good chance, according to the good folks evaluating the latest photographic data from the Phoenix Mars Lander, that it has landed on a sheet of ice that's just inches below the rocky surface.
See the photo and the initial analysis here.
reactions, thoughts, comments, etc.
That is an amazing find. I actually was thinking they might find ice while exploring a bit. I wonder if Mars was ever warm enough to support water in a liquid state??
Posted by: Matt | June 1, 2008 12:30 PM
Matt, they were going there to find and analyze the martian surface fully intending to find the ice, this is just nice because they haven't even started digging yet.
And yes, Mars was warm enough to support liquid water, long before even Earth was. Mars, being smaller than Earth, cooled off faster but it definitely was warm enough to support liquid water at some point in the past. Whether or not it had the atmospheric pressure to support liquid water at or near the surface for any considerable length of time is still unverified but there were very likely large-scale flowing water events for at least short time periods in the Martian past.
- A
Posted by: Asa Dotzler | June 1, 2008 12:48 PM