Phoenix - Sol 31

The Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment on Martian soil flawlessly, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery.

"We are awash in chemistry data," said Michael Hecht. "We're trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil on Mars, what's dissolved in it, how acidic or alkaline it is. With the results we received from Phoenix yesterday, we could begin to tell what aspects of the soil might support life."

"This is the first wet-chemical analysis ever done on Mars or any planet, other than Earth," said Sam Kounaves.

About 80 percent of Phoenix's first, two-day wet chemistry experiment is now complete. Phoenix has three more wet-chemistry cells for use later in the mission.

"This soil appears to be a close analog to surface soils found in the upper dry valleys in Antarctica," Kouvanes said. "The alkalinity of the soil at this location is definitely striking. At this specific location, one-inch into the surface layer, the soil is very basic, with a pH of between eight and nine. We also found a variety of components of salts that we haven't had time to analyze and identify yet, but that include magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride."

"This is more evidence for water because salts are there. We also found a reasonable number of nutrients, or chemicals needed by life as we know it," Kounaves said. "Over time, I've come to the conclusion that the amazing thing about Mars is not that it's an alien world, but that in many aspects, like mineralogy, it's very much like Earth."

The Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), has baked its first soil sample to 1,000 degrees Celsius. Never before has a soil sample from another world been baked to such high heat.

TEGA scientists have begun analyzing the gases released at a range of temperatures to identify the chemical make-up of soil and ice. Analysis is a complicated, weeks-long process.

But "the scientific data coming out of the instrument have been just spectacular," said William Boynton.

"At this point, we can say that the soil has clearly interacted with water in the past. We don't know whether that interaction occurred in this particular area in the northern polar region, or whether it might have happened elsewhere and blown up to this area as dust."

Leslie Tamppari tallied what Phoenix has accomplished during the first 30 Martian days of its mission, and outlined future plans.

The Stereo Surface Imager has by now completed about 55 percent of its three-color, 360-degree panorama of the Phoenix landing site, Tamppari said. Phoenix has analyzed two samples in its optical microscope as well as first samples in both TEGA and the wet chemistry laboratory. Phoenix has been collecting information daily on clouds, dust, winds, temperatures and pressures in the atmosphere, as well as taking first nighttime atmospheric measurements.

Lander cameras confirmed that white chunks exposed during trench digging were frozen water ice because they sublimated, or vaporized, over a few days. The Phoenix robotic arm dug and sampled, and will continue to dig and sample, at the 'Snow White' trench in the center of a polygon in the polygonal terrain.

"We believe this is the best place for creating a profile of the surface from the top down to the anticipated icy layer," Tamppari said. "This is the plan we wanted to do when we proposed the mission many years ago. We wanted a place just like this where we could sample the soil down to the possible ice layer."

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Phoenix
• Mars
• Lander

[MikeHawkins]

I'm glad someone uploads this stuff, I can't always be on the internet at exactly 1pm eastern time to watch it on Nasa TV, can't locate a link to updates, the University of Phoenix website is slow and the pics look like low grade cell-phone pics... The NASA websites are fast but have little data and refers everyone to the slow U. of Phoenix website with its crappy server....

[Videon07]

as always bruno, you bring the good shit. I'm not at all surprised by the findings, but couldn't be happier.

[Zypor]

What they don't tell you in this video is that Phoenix landed on a huge miniature-sized intelligent civilization the size of ants. The adult population stand no more than 1.6 mm tall. They have human-type form with animal-like heads. If you don't believe me take a look at the youtube video "Matian soil under the Microscope" and you will see.

Of course, nothing was heard from NASA about this as they were searching for something else - the elements to support human life.

[LIBERTYROCKS08]

Thank you so much for the TRUTH! This is something that many people have known for many years. That water does exist on Mars! No longer can our Government lie to us about this! See the skippers videos.

[morroco2050]

"Phoenix is in perfect health,"

[morroco2050]

Yeah, i've been to jupiter

and i've fallen through the air

i used to live out on the moon

but now i'm back here down on earth ( Fallen _ 30 SECONDS TO MARS )

[TECHKLEC]

It sounds more like a mix of water and dry ice.

[amcnea]

Awesome!

[Shadowsnshades]

This is great. Thanks for posting. Soon they may find microbial life. Who knows!