NASA: Water on Mars! wOOt!
I can't emphasize how much we love NASA here at HAWT. We've had plenty of posts about their sassiness. And now that they have confirmed there is ice on Mars, I'm changing my diaper post-excitement. My lordie. They way they have proof? Not how we were expecting. See, the lander seems to be a bit crippled. It is struggling to get the soil into the lander's ovens so the dirt can be analyzed. (The face that this machine is... essentially... hobbled makes it that much more adorable to us. Go handicapped machine! Go! You're just as good as any other machine!).
NASA's had to resort to non-standard methods. Turns out the lander scratched away soil during landing that revealed a white substance under the dirt. They kept returning a lens to the white substance and realized and realized it was disappearing over time. Done. Has to be ice. Salt doesn't do that. Here's a time-lapse photo.
This is huge news! Now the lander just has to get its arm to work well enough to get some of that ice into an over and we'll have the first chance to analyze extra-terrestrial water. ET WATER! Holy moly! This is huge! (MY bet is it's 0.04% Tang.)
What caught my eye, though, is how NASA announced this finding. They have dropped some announcements in the past that seem to have come from Shakespeare's pen, itself. Here's a quick comparison of NASA's words.
NASA's had to resort to non-standard methods. Turns out the lander scratched away soil during landing that revealed a white substance under the dirt. They kept returning a lens to the white substance and realized and realized it was disappearing over time. Done. Has to be ice. Salt doesn't do that. Here's a time-lapse photo.
This is huge news! Now the lander just has to get its arm to work well enough to get some of that ice into an over and we'll have the first chance to analyze extra-terrestrial water. ET WATER! Holy moly! This is huge! (MY bet is it's 0.04% Tang.)What caught my eye, though, is how NASA announced this finding. They have dropped some announcements in the past that seem to have come from Shakespeare's pen, itself. Here's a quick comparison of NASA's words.
John Glenn. February 26, 1962 on the Mercury-Atlas 6 Mission. Glenn became the first American to orbit the planet.
"That sure was a short day... That was about the shortest day I've ever run into."
Neil Armstrong. July 20, 1969 on the Apollo 11 Mission.Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon.
"This is one small step for [a] man. One giant leap for mankind."
Phoenix Lander. June 19, 2008 on the Phoenix Mission.The Phoenix lander discovers ice on Mars and communicates the findings back to eager earthlings.
How times have changed. Here's to NASA and the lander that thinks it can, it thinks it can: the Phoenix!
"Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!"
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Three Twins Organic Ice Cream company should come up with a new dessert where, instead of going to Kilimanjaro to make the ice cream, they take the diner to to Mars. They can charge $403,495,394,231,349.99 and donate 2% of it to charity.
I'm the best blogger, ever.
- JLF
Very cool. Ice. Go crippled Mars Lander.
Watched that 5 part special on HD Discover about NASA. Fantastic, highly recommended program. It was HawtAction at its finest!
Go NASA.
We will miss your George.
True that... Georgie Carlin will be missed.