NASA Has Possible “Evidence” of Ice on Mars
Friday, June 20th, 2008
NASA Believes they have found “evidence” of frozen water on mars via their Phoenix Lander. Apparently some small white clumps that were left behind in one of the trenches that the lander’s robotic arm had dug out earlier have mysteriously disappeared. To quote “It must be ice,” said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson. “These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it’s ice. There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can’t do that.”
Wooooh there folks. I think NASA may be jumping the gun just a little here. There have been many headlines surfacing over the last day claiming things like “Water found on Mars” and such. However, once again, our cynical nature prevents us from posting such a headline just yet. The white substance may in fact be water ice however, just because it vanished, is not “proof” of anything except that its gone. I’m definitely no scientist, but last I checked, Mars still had winds. In fact, below are 2 animations sent back from Phoenix herself recording the winds of Mars via it’s SSI. The left animation’s images were stretched to enhance contrast while the right animation highlights variations between each image and the next. Now again, I am no physicist but I do believe that wind is capable of blowing things (like salt) out of small trenches dug with a toy backhoe. And what about the many other elements that are white when frozen? I imagine this is most likely not the case however there are still many possibilities here. Lets get some of that white stuff in one of those easy bake ovens first, then we can start thinking about busting out the bubbly. More at NASA’s Phoenix Mission Homepage…
