Mars Phoenix lander discovers ice on Mars
By Paul Miller 
posted June 19th 2008 10:39PM
posted June 19th 2008 10:39PM
[Via Wired Science]
posted June 19th 2008 10:39PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
@rock99rock:
I concur whole-heartedly.
I would post a longer comment, but I'm burning through my C tank too quickly. I'll try contacting you at the next fly-by :)
It's so sad that even on Engadget something can devolve into a fight between theists and atheists.
Seriously, folks. Mellow out.
This is the comment thread of an internet blog. It doesn't get more serious than this.
"devolve"? You must be an atheist then if you believe in devolution :)
I cant believe I'm living in the age where robots on other planets have their own blogs.
Test comment...
Okay, so it's just taking my comments longer than usual to show up.
Nothing to see here. Move along, please.
It is a bug in the comment system fool.
Okay, enough with this GET YOUR ASS TO MARS crap! Wait, just kidding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53ARrp7x4bQ
You know, there are plenty of volatile liquids that could have disappeared when contacted with mar's atmosphere, i'm not sold that its ice
Who gives a shit about ice. Is their Oil?
lol
Wow, this is all being taken very seriously. People chiming in with varying opinions on science and religion and so on.
Just wait until NASA finds a tiny, pixelated case of Bud Light in amongst all that ice.
Come on beer companies. Mass quantities of Martian ice, and a worldwide audience. Run with it.
The sad part is that if they do run into "little green men" they will never release that information to avoid chaos on Earth.
Actually, that is sad.
hopefully they find oil too... the prices are driving me crazy
"We must liberate the Martians, and stop the proliferation of WMDs."
That’s "Wascally Martian Detonators" for those of you without s degree in Warner Brothers studies.
Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulators are no joke.
Duck Dodgers would be proud.
here's a false statement: where there's water, there's life.
here's a true statement: where there's no water, there's no life.
so, water doesn't guarantee life, but it is a pre-condition for it.
the mysteries of the universe, tidily summed by me!
Well, actually, it's quite possible-- likely, even, if scientists are to be believed-- that there are forms of life that don't require water at all. But nice try anyway.
right, for non-carbon based life forms. of which we have yet to find any. i guess i should have said, "life, as we know it."
It is probably frozen CO2, not H2O. Mars is very cold for the most part, why would H2O sublimate? Mars has less gravity and not as much atmospheric pressure, but I wouldn't think it would cause sublimation of H2O. Without hyping up the whole 'search for life' thing, NASA would have no funding for these programs. Also, if secularist 'scientists' can prove that life is created easily everywhere, then they will be one step closer to getting rid of religious nuts, right?
As far as H20 not sublimating in sub-freezing temperatures, you must not live in a cold climate. Here in Alaska I have seen ice all but disappear in -20F temperatures. Which, by the way, is the same high temps now in the region of Mars that Phoenix is working. I am sure the rate of sublimation is even higher in a climate with no humidity. I am fairly certain that based on previous observations from the orbiting probes and the other science missions on Mars that this is going to prove to be water ice. Now, lets just see what signs of life if any there are on this planet.
@Craig B
That's the Hollywood Basement syndrome... The ice had probably been formed by the AC unit... :D
Who the hell cares about the ice??? I care about what this object is on Mars!!! This is a photo straight from NASA!!!
http://ida.wr.usgs.gov/fullres/divided/m15012/m1501228a.jpg
thats called a crater
No way! They have a Selfridges on Mars??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Birmingham_Selfridges_building.jpg
I thought it was a nipple.
God's nipple.
Wow we have a smart@ss in the house, hey since you are sooooo smart what's that in the middle of that crater? Is that your mom's igloo?
"Where there's water, there is/was life!"
^that's still true right?
Thats exactly what I said. Except instead of "sweet," I went looking for it out of straight up disbelief.
That BS global warming crap again. Can people just stop discussing this hoax? Its the largest hoax perpetrated on mankind ever. If you thought WMD was bad, and are angry about that, then you should be EXTREMELY cautious of people preaching this global warming crap. Leave it out of this discussion, please.
Global warming is happening, and it is almost certain that humans are responsible for it. Read some science articles and get caught up on the last 20 years of research, please.
As opposed to the articles from 30 years ago that predicted global cooling and impending doom from ice ages? Of course, those guys were idiots, their science was primitive and all wrong. Then again, in 2040 the same things will be being said about our predictions from today.
Much of this climate change research is done by "climate change scientists" whose careers are based on proving that climate change is important and real. I find many of the calibrations that they use in establishing historical levels to be questionable.
Go ahead and read the discussion section in wikipedia under climate change. You will find that the moderators, who initially said that the only acceptable articles are from major journals such as Nature, subsequently REFUSED to include later articles on climate change from Nature and other major journals that provide evidence refuting some of the global warming dogma. Their justification is that these major papers are "not well accepted" by the scientific community. What they mean is, these articles don't jive with their Agenda.
I was born on the original Earth day in 1970, and I want my planet to be healthy when I am old, and it's reasonable to speculate about future effects. But these people have an Agenda, with the capital "A." They suppress other speech or data that does not support their position. That is why I am a skeptic.
Just because some mods on wikipedia aren't including articles from the other side doesn't mean it's a hoax. I wouldn't inform my opinions using wikipedia.
Anyway, even if global warming doesn't happen the way it is predicted to happen, there is no downside to addressing it. Energy taxes and carbon credits will help to remove our dependency on oil, something that is important for when we run out of the stuff. The free market can't appropriately respond, because we only have estimates for how many years we have left. And if global warming is indeed real, then its impact can be lessened.
I find it irritating because the 'global warming is a hoax' people seem to be the same people who are all in favor of other kinds of pre-emptive methods of protecting America, like spending more on the military or building a missile shield, or taking all the risks of putting sanctions on Iran. But when it comes to another 'potential' threat, global warming, these same people say it's a hoax and don't want to bother putting any money into it. You just deny that there is any possibility that it is real. Doesn't the expression 'just in case' ever come to mind?
I was born in a turkish family. My mother is belives in Islam my father never speaks of religon or mentions a god. He is a bulgarian tatar, and my mother is some balkan ethnicity. To bring in religon to matters like "discovery of Ice" is absurd. The user gadget mentions that he is a scientific minded person, but bringing up religon or even replying to someones comment that includes some religous idea just contradicts what gadgets says. We are all part of humanity, we are all humans, regardless of the differences that form through religon and language. Those are all coping mechanisms for the real truth we all seek. Nonetheless, it is important to respect those who still believe in the ideas that worked to bring us all to the position we are all at. Eventually they will realize it too whatever religon/"race" they are.
can't the white stuff be dry ice or solid carbon dioxide?
"Where there's water, there is/was life!"
No but; "Where there´s water, there is potential rocket fuel"
And for science and religion talk; Define God/god/gods so that its fits for all religions/beliefs?
If one thiks universe = God, then also God = [insert what ever]
Exactly! It bugs the hell out of me when people say 'well maybe God is, you know, like, everything'. Come on! People are so attached to the word 'God' that if they can no longer feel comfortable associating it with the original meaning they just change the definition so that they can still say 'I believe in God'. What's the point in bending over backwards to create these super wide ranging definitions of God? Why can't people just abandon the overly laden word and explain their personal theories without resorting to it?
Oh, I fail so bad to write in english.
I am no NASA scientist, but at 0.007 bars pressure, water boils at 41 degrees F or 5 degrees C. One would think that it would need to be above that temp to sublimate.
Well 0.006 is the triple point pressure of water, so perhaps it can sublimate at 0.007 bars pressure given enough sunlight?
Sure it wasnt Coke, and Bush spent the night there..??
Looks like Megatron.
I live and work in Antarctica, and I must say that picture looks a lot like it was taken at the Moon Habitat setup just across the road.
Wow, the first comment I've ever seen from an Antarticerrrrrerr. Whatever......
great FN news for MAN. we gotta save the space program at all cost
News Flash!!!
I just discovered ice in my freezer!
Hey hey hey! I said no ice with this drink, newbie nasa bartenders!
Liam you and many other people appear to have an unshakable, blind faith in the power of Almighty Chance, when you claim that evolution in billions of years could make something out of anything even out of elements we don't know about. Does science require that I swallow that? Robert Shapiro, chemist from New York University and a leading researcher trying to figure out a way life sponatneosly evolved from lifeless material admits: "In the very beginning, you couldn't have genetic material that could copy itself unless you had chemists back then doing it for you." His empirical observations essentially support Louis Pasteur's (the father of bio-chemistry) statement that: "spontaneous generation (life came from non-living material on its own) is an illusion" -- and that's true on the earth as well as on Mars!