It's snowing, it's snowing. On Mars. Pioneer Lander sees snowflakes.

In a mindf***er of all mindf***ers, the Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from clouds over Mars, NASA scientists said Tuesday. Coupled with other recent discoveries on Mars, we now know that life on Mars is at least a remote possibility. Klaatu is possible.

According to NASA, a laser-driven instrument collecting data on the interaction between the atmosphere and surface of Mars detected snow from clouds two and a half miles above the Lander's landing site. The snow vaporized before reaching the ground. . .not so surprising considering the climate.

"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University, Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground."

Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided startling proof that minerals and liquid water have interacted in Mars (processes that routinely occur on Earth).

The Phoenix Lander touched down in the Martian arctic on May 25 this year. The data suggests the presence of calcium carbonate (e.g., chalk), and particles of what might be clay. Carbonates and clays on Earth form only with water in the mix.

"We have found carbonate," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA). "This points toward episodes of interaction with water in the past." "We are still collecting data and have lots of analysis ahead, but we are making good progress on the big questions we set out for ourselves," said a Phoenix investigator, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona.

"The Phoenix lander started digging trenches into Martian soil after touching down near the planet's north pole on May 25, revealing a white substance that scientists said was ice in June. Scientists now want to examine whether that ice ever thaws to assess whether the environment has been favorable for life, a key aim of the mission."

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Alien Lore No. 136::::::Water found!::::::Is there/was there life on Mars?

In a release yesterday by Dwayne Brown (NASA HQ), Guy Webster (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), and Sara Hammond (University of Arizona), NASA has confirmed finding water on the Planet Mars. The full release follows below.

July 31, 2008 - NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

"Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected from all the Mars simulation testing we've done. That has presented challenges for delivering samples, but we're finding ways to work with it and we're gathering lots of information to help us understand this soil."

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix has been studying soil with a chemistry lab, TEGA, a microscope, a conductivity probe and cameras. Besides confirming the 2002 finding from orbit of water ice near the surface and deciphering the newly observed stickiness, the science team is trying to determine whether the water ice ever thaws enough to be available for biology and if carbon-containing chemicals and other raw materials for life are present.

The mission is examining the sky as well as the ground. A Canadian instrument is using a laser beam to study dust and clouds overhead.

"It's a 30-watt light bulb giving us a laser show on Mars," said Victoria Hipkin of the Canadian Space Agency.

A full-circle, color panorama of Phoenix's surroundings also has been completed by the spacecraft.

"The details and patterns we see in the ground show an ice-dominated terrain as far as the eye can see," said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera. "They help us plan measurements we're making within reach of the robotic arm and interpret those measurements on a wider scale."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and development partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about Phoenix, click here.
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Photograph transmitted Sunday from Phoenix probe shows possible life on Mars

A photograph of Phoenix shortly after landing - click to enlarge

NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander touched down safely Sunday on the Red Planet. The Mars probe will soon begin to sift through the icy soil for any signs of present or former life.

"We've passed the hardest part and we're breathing again,'' Mars Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein said in a statement released by NASA. Mars' rugged terrain and equipment failures have previously led to the failure of more than half of all Mars missions, including an ancestor of the Phoenix lander that was destroyed in 1999.

Phoenix sent a signal confirming it had safely landed in the northern polar region of Mars, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its website. The message took 15 minutes to travel to Earth from Mars at the speed of light.

As Phoenix began transmitting pictures to earth, scientists were shocked by the first images they received. Even before Phoenix began its probes in the soil, it broadcast back photographs that stunned the scientists on the Phoenix project at NASA. The photograph seems to show what earthlings might describe as a Yeti, or northwest-variety Sasquatch, striding across the Martian terrain. Scientists are at a loss to explain the photo, and anxiously await the next series of photographs, due to be transmitted later today. A website on the Internet, called Life on Mars obtained and posted one of the first photographs received by NASA, apparently leaked from the mission center. The photograph as it originally appeared today is located here.

click to enlarge (original 640 x 480 pixels)

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