Latest Martian soil Stories

U.S. scientists said soil on Mars appears to be alkaline enough to support plant life. Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University said soil found by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Phoenix Mars lander has enough nutrients to grow a plant such as asparagus, The New York Times reported Friday. We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future, Kounaves told reporters. The sort of soil you have there is...

By JOHN JOHNSON JR By John Johnson Jr. Los Angeles Times The first chemistry results from Mars' northern plain reveal an environment more hospitable to life than some scientists had predicted, one that might allow future colonists to grow crops as familiar on Earth as asparagus and green beans. Strawberries, though, might be tougher, Phoenix mission scientists said Thursday. "We're flabbergasted by this data," said Sam Kounaves, the lead scientist on the wet chemistry experiment for the...

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix scientists was like winning the lottery."We are awash in chemistry data," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument on Phoenix. "We're trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil on Mars, what's dissolved...

NASA scientists said Thursday that the soil on Mars appears to have elements favorable to supporting life. The "flabbergasted" scientists are part of the Phoenix Mars Lander mission. They said a preliminary analysis on a soil sample obtained by the spacecraft's 8-foot robotic arm had shown the Martian soil to be much more alkaline than expected."We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past present or future," Sam Kounaves,...

To: TECHNOLOGY EDITORS Contact: Dwayne Brown , Headquarters, Washington, +1-202-358- 1726, dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov, or Guy Webster, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., +1-818-354-6278, guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov, both of NASA; or Sara Hammond of University of Arizona, Tucson, +1-520-626-1974, shammond@lpl.arizona.edu TUCSON, Ariz., June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, are expected to provide the first measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the planet's soil. The analysis of this and other soil samples will help researchers determine whether ice beneath the soil ever has melted, and whether the soil has...

A new analysis of Martian soil data led by University of California, Berkeley, geoscientists suggests that there was once enough water in the planet's atmosphere for a light drizzle or dew to hit the ground, leaving tell-tale signs of its interaction with the planet's surface.The study's conclusion breaks from the more dominant view that the liquid water that once existed during the red planet's infancy came mainly in the form of upwelling groundwater rather than rain.To come up with their...

The U.S. space agency said its Phoenix Mars Lander was ready to conduct a microscopic analysis of Martian soil Thursday -- the 29th day of the mission. The soil was to undergo examination under the lander's optical microscope, with Phoenix's robotic arm to deliver some of that same scoop of soil for the first wet chemistry experiment on Mars. That experiment is to be conducted later this week. National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists made a diagnostic test run Monday that...

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has delivered a scoop of Martian soil from the "Snow White" trenches to the optical microscope for analysis tomorrow, June 24, the 29th Martian day of the mission, or Sol 29. And the Phoenix lander will position its Robotic Arm to deliver some of that same scoop of soil for its first wet chemistry experiment on the Red Planet in the next day or two. Scientists did a diagnostic run today that melted ice to water for Phoenix's first wet...

By the associated press LOS ANGELES - Scientists believe NASA's Phoenix Mars lander exposed bits of ice while recently digging a trench in the soil of the Martian arctic, the mission's principal investigator said. Crumbs of bright material initially photographed in the trench later vanished, meaning they must have been frozen water that vaporized after being exposed, Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson, said in a statement Thursday. "These little clumps completely disappearing...