CibbuanoI'm dreaming of a White Christmas on Mars
October 7th 2008 04:26
Last week, the NASA Mars Rover detected falling snow on the Red Planet, suggesting that visiting spacemen might enjoy a quick little toboggan ride in the canyons of Mars.
The news was reported on the NASA website, with little media fanfare in light of the debate between VP nominees, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.
"NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds. Spacecraft soil tests experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.
A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars, detected snow from clouds about 2.5 miles above the spacecraft's landing site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground. "
Sadly, this means that Mars still won't have a White Christmas, and certainly will not have days that are merry and bright. By the new year, it's projected that there won't be an figgy pudding or chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but Jack Frost has agreed to nip at the Rover's nose.
Unfortunately, there's fewer hours of sunlight for the Rover to use, its solar panels getting coated with red dust, slowly falling into hibernation. Does it feel old? Does it feel creaky in the mornings and complain? Does it feel like a cup o' joe?
""For nearly three months after landing, the sun never went below the horizon at our landing site." said Barry Goldstein, JPL Phoenix project manager. "Now it is gone for more than four hours each night, and the output from our solar panels is dropping each week. Before the end of October, there won't be enough energy to keep using the robotic arm." "
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Did you see the photo fo the flow of white stuff down a slope, that came out some months back? Maybe near a year ago now, anyway, it certainly looked like a rivlet, so as the old adage goes, 'where there's water there is life!'
cheers
fog
Comment by Cibbuano
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