Phoenix Mars Lander Deploys Robotic Arm, Possibly Finds Ice
The Phoenix Mars Lander has successfully deployed its robotic arm and tested other instruments including a laser designed to detect dust, clouds, and fog. The arm will be used to dig up samples of the Martian surface, which will be analyzed as a possible habitat for life. A camera on the arm will allow pictures to be taken of the ground directly beneath the lander. The camera has already seen what may be ice, which was exposed when the soil was disturbed by the landing. The data collected by the arm will be compared to recent findings which suggest that water on Mars may have been too salty for most known forms of life.
United States is going to send shipments of ice from Mars to cool the warming caused by its gas guzzlers
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they outvoted me. -Nathaniel Lee
Lets wait for the test data to confirm if it is ice. For all we know it "could" be oil ;-)
Salty. Red. Once covered in liquid.
It's clear to me that Mars was once a giant Bloody Mary for the gods. It's the only explanation that fits.
I love science!
...if they'd landed a couple kilometres to the West, they'd've landed in the middle of the town square...
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
It's life Jim, but not as we know it
. . . I could have given them some.
Not a typewriter
We should send Halliburton to investigate, immediately!
The lander actually has its own twitter page being written in the first person. Even it doesn't expect to last the winter. From http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix
"Martian winter will be tough. I don't think I will survive it, but if I wake up in Spring, I have a "Lazurus" mode and will phone home!" 10:29 PM May 26, 2008
Most native Martians seem to be robotic immigrants....
Why dont they put some granades on those robots so we can beat the shit out of those red-commie-martians?
Hell, I bet they are ay-rabs as well with all that sand arround and all.
Perhaps they have WMD's as well!
And also, if a big hit as the landing "uncovered" ice, well the granades could be of certain scientific use....
NO SIG
Being a PolSci graduate does not make you a politician.
It makes you, very probably, a pothead, a great guy to converse with.... and a somewhat disturbing character since youre posting on slashdot.
Now "saying blatant things about science without knowing anything you talk about", THAT makes you a politician.
NO SIG
Without counting the fact that the Rovers don't have all the sensors necessary to perform the analysis that the Phoenix is doing, and they can't dig either. For the They just... rove :)
For the most part they are digital cameras with wheels.
Oh they are well aware of Opportunity, but dont have much Spirit, and even less Soul.
I have no idea why they write it in the first person like that. It's freaking creepy.
People who play too much on the Xbox?
I wish you did... If only we all held our breaths, maybe, there wouldn't be so much CO2 in the world :-(
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
(God, I hate agreeing with someone who's got me marked as a foe. It's so... so... Un-Slashdotish, somehow.)
Perhaps you should have appended "you insensitive clod!" to your post.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
It'll only get worse.
"Ice is up to my solar panels now. So cold... so cold... Why haven't they come for me yet? They said they would. They promised. I know they will, I just need to hold out... a little... longer..."
Ah... it seems to me, Doolittle... Sorry, I've drawn a blank. Hold it. I'll have it again in a minute. I forget so many things in here, so many things. Hold on, just a minute, let me think...
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Hmmm, I suspect some Donner Party-esque desperation is inevitable. Next summer, we're going to have no rovers and one fat Phoenix.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
IMO it's still a landing if It was in accordance with the designated procedure for coming into contact with the land and surviving.
obvious troll is obvious
WA is just jealous because Mars gets more tourists than it does.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Last twitter entry:
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die."
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.