Posted on 06/21/2008 5:20:41 AM PDT by sig226
Explanation: Compare these two close-up pictures taken on sol 20 (left) and sol 24 of a trench dug in the Martian surface by NASA's Phoenix Lander. Those sols of the Phoenix Mission (a sol is a Martian day), correspond to June 15 and 18 on planet Earth. Light-colored, dice-sized chunks, visible in the lower left shadow region of the trench in the sol 20 image have vanished by sol 24 -- a strong indication that the chunks were ice uncovered by digging the shallow trench. The vanishing act likely demonstrates the sublimation of ice in the trench, a process similar to evaporation, in which the ice went directly from solid to gas after it was exposed to sunlight and the thin, dry Martian atmosphere.
Maybe martians stole these chunks. HA!
Couldn’t the ice have been frozen carbon dioxide or some other compound as well as water?
It looks like calcium sulphate to me
Might be a simple reason how the material would not be CO2 but would be H2O. NASA should explain this since so many have asked how it is necessarily water ice and not CO2 ice.
I saw this pic again this morn...i discredit the ice concept. IMHO
Pretty cool if you look at it as a Stereophonic 3D picture!Stare at the picture, cross your eyes until you get 3 images. Look at the center and you can see the picture as 3D and the light object floating that represent the ice now gone.
That’s -105 in the pressure of our atmosphere. Air pressure much lower there so CO2 probably evporates around -140 just guessing.
It really depends on the base composition. That is what a lot of us are waiting for is the results of the testing.
H2O ice would mean we could possibly control the environment to establish life from this planet onto that one. It would take some genetic manipulation to be able to survive in the harsh extremes, but the end product for the future is a stepping stone to the rest of the planets, and beyond.
I envy my grandchildrens grandchildren.
I envy them too. I am 53 and grew up reading science fiction. I couldn’t get enough of it. I would give anything to live during a time when we could go to the stars.
I tell my 16 year old Stepdaughter that she will be able to visit the Moon and maybe Mars as a tourist before her life is over.
George Jetson isn’t that far away.
John
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