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SPACE ARTICLES
MARS
WHAT WE KNOW
Photo taken from Hubble Space telescope
Mars is a cold, dry, desert landscape of sand and rocks. Many land features on the present-day surface of Mars, such as volcanoes, canyons, and valleys, make it look very similar to Earth, but humans could not survive in the present environment on Mars. The average surface temperature is -63 degrees C (-81 degrees F), and nighttime temperatures on Mars can plunge to -110 degrees C (-170 degrees F). By comparison, the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth was -89 degrees C (-130 degrees F) at Vostok, Antarctica in July, 1983.
Photo from Hubble
Surface Features and Geology
Mars is only about one-half the diameter of Earth, but both planets have roughly the same amount of dry land surface area. This is because over two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans, whereas the present surface of Mars has no liquid water.Although Mars and Earth are very different planets when it comes to temperature, size, and atmosphere, geologic processes on the two planets are surprisingly similar. On Mars, we see volcanoes, channels, and impact basins much like the ones we see on Earth. Because of this similarity, scientists can study certain geologic features and processes on Earth in order to learn about the same or similar features on Mars. These comparisons are called analogs. Because we don't yet have the capability to send humans to do fieldwork on Mars, these Mars/Earth analogs enable scientists to make inferences about features they see on Mars by combining field studies on Earth with satellite imagery of the Martian surface, as well as imagery obtained by landers.
2005 Rover pic
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/mars101.php
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This image shows a view from NASA's Phoenix Mars
Lander's Stereo Surface Imager's left eye after delivery of soil to the Thermal
and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA), taken on the 12th Martian day after landing
(Sol 12, June 6, 2008).
Soil is visible on both sides of the open doors of TEGA's #4 oven. Sensors
inside the device indicate no soil passed through the screen and into the oven.
The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of
NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver.
Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University
NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander scooped up this
Martian soil on the mission's 11th Martian day, or sol, after landing (June 5,
2008) as the first soil sample for delivery to the laboratory on the lander
deck.
The material includes a light-toned clod possibly from crusted surface of the
ground, similar in appearance to clods observed near a foot of the lander.
This approximately true-color view of the contents of the scoop on the Robotic
Arm comes from combining separate images taken by the Robotic Arm Camera on Sol
11, using illumination by red, green and blue light-emitting diodes on the
camera.
The scoop loaded with this sample was poised over an open sample-delivery door
of Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer at the end of Sol 11, ready to be dumped
into the instrument on the next sol.
The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of
NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
Denver.
Image NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Max Planck Institute
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/index.html
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Phoenix is a robotic spacecraft on a space exploration mission on Mars under the Mars Scout Program. The scientists conducting the mission will use instruments aboard the Phoenix lander to search for environments suitable for microbial life on Mars, and to research the history of water there. The multi-agency program is headed by the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, under the direction of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The program is a partnership of universities in the United States, Canada, Switzerland, the Philippines, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, and other aerospace companies.[1]
Phoenix is the sixth successful landing on Mars, out of twelve total international attempts (the sixth successful landing of seven American attempts). It is the third successful static lander and the first since Viking 2, and as of 2008 the most recent spacecraft to land successfully on Mars. It is also the first successful landing on a polar region of Mars.
Phoenix landing site
A 360-degree panorama assembled from images taken on sols 1 and 3 after landing. The upper portion has been vertically stretched by a factor of 8 to bring out details. Visible near the horizon at full resolution are the backshell and parachute (a bright speck above the right edge of the left solar array, about 300 m distant) and the heat shield and its bounce mark (two end-to-end dark streaks above the center of the left solar array, about 150 m distant); on the horizon, left of the weather mast, is a crater. (Scroll right if you don't initially see them.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Phoenix_landing.jpg
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MARS IN 3-D
MARS IN 3-D
FOR MORE 3-D PIX OF MARS AND FOR INFO ON WHERE TO GET YOUR 3-D GLASSES, CLICK HERE
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