Posts tagged space

Ice found on Mars?

It looks like the Phoenix Mars Lander may have found ice on Mars.

If the discovery of ice is confirmed it would vastly increase the chances of finding life on Mars now or evidence of life in the past.

Such a discovery would be likely to lead to a step change in our perception of the universe.

Links for 2008-06-15

• Phoenix Mars Lander delivers soil sample to microscope [NASA]
• Yahoo! succumbs to the power of Google [Observer]
• I’m searching for Google alternatives [Guardian]
• Semantic web - why bother? [Tom Scott]
• How to publish linked data on the web [Freie Universität Berlin]
• BECTU’s response to PSB review [BECTU]

Ice under Phoenix?

A picture by the Robotic Arm Camera of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander reveals smooth surfaces cleared by the rocket exhaust during landing.

Is this ice?

The Phoenix has landed

Excellent news that Phoenix has successfully landed on Mars.

Landing further north than any previous mission, it’s going to dig into expected water-ice beneath the surface and look for evidence of the building blocks of life.

If it leads to the discovery of life previously on Mars it would be fantastic.

If it leads to the discovery of life now on Mars now it would be brilliant.

I’ll be following the mission with interest.