NASA's Martian Probe Spots Snowfall in Skies Over Red Planet
By Demian McLean
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- NASA's Phoenix lander probe has spotted snow falling from clouds high above Mars, increasing the number of sites where frozen water has been discovered on the Red Planet, the U.S. space agency said.
The snowflakes vaporized in Mars's low-pressure atmosphere before reaching the rocky soil, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement yesterday.
``Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,'' Jim Whiteway, a meteorological scientist on the Phoenix team, said in the statement. ``We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.''
The golf cart-size probe arrived May 25 on Mars and could continue its mission through much of October, exceeding a lifespan that was expected to end a month ago, NASA said.
The one-armed probe is digging in the Martian soil in search of water, organic chemicals and other ingredients suggesting the planet might have once harbored life.
Orbiting satellites long suggested ice was plentiful beneath Mars's soil. On July 31, the Phoenix confirmed that sheets of ice exist several centimeters beneath the ground.
NASA has declared Mars the eventual destination of its newest manned space program. The agency has begun work on the six-person Orion vehicle and plans to retire the space shuttles in 2010.
The shuttles will be used in the meantime to expand the space station and repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Hubble repair mission, scheduled for Oct. 14, has been delayed because of a malfunction on the orbiting observatory, NASA said yesterday.
No new date has been set and engineers say it will take at least a week to remotely fix the glitch on Hubble, according to the agency.
By Demian McLean
Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- NASA's Phoenix lander probe has spotted snow falling from clouds high above Mars, increasing the number of sites where frozen water has been discovered on the Red Planet, the U.S. space agency said.
The snowflakes vaporized in Mars's low-pressure atmosphere before reaching the rocky soil, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement yesterday.
``Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars,'' Jim Whiteway, a meteorological scientist on the Phoenix team, said in the statement. ``We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.''
The golf cart-size probe arrived May 25 on Mars and could continue its mission through much of October, exceeding a lifespan that was expected to end a month ago, NASA said.
The one-armed probe is digging in the Martian soil in search of water, organic chemicals and other ingredients suggesting the planet might have once harbored life.
Orbiting satellites long suggested ice was plentiful beneath Mars's soil. On July 31, the Phoenix confirmed that sheets of ice exist several centimeters beneath the ground.
NASA has declared Mars the eventual destination of its newest manned space program. The agency has begun work on the six-person Orion vehicle and plans to retire the space shuttles in 2010.
The shuttles will be used in the meantime to expand the space station and repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Hubble repair mission, scheduled for Oct. 14, has been delayed because of a malfunction on the orbiting observatory, NASA said yesterday.
No new date has been set and engineers say it will take at least a week to remotely fix the glitch on Hubble, according to the agency.
