 Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena , Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles@email.arizona.edu NEWS RELEASE: 2008-205
Nov. 10, 2008 Mars Phoenix Lander
Finishes Successful Work on Red Planet LOS ANGELES, Calif.
-- NASA's
Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As
anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight
for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments. Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more
clouds and colder temperatures as the northern Mars summer approaches autumn. The mission exceeded its planned operational
life of three months to conduct and return science data. The project
team will be listening carefully during the next few weeks to hear if Phoenix revives and phones home. However, engineers
now believe that is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions on Mars. While the spacecraft's work has ended,
the analysis of data from the instruments is in its earliest stages. "
Phoenix has given us some surprises, and I'm confident we will be pulling more gems from this trove of data for years
to come," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona
in Tucson . Launched Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther
north than any previous spacecraft to land on the Martian surface. The lander dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted the
Red Planet's soil. Among early results, it verified the presence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, which NASA's
Mars Odyssey orbiter first detected remotely in 2002. Phoenix 's cameras also returned more
than 25,000 pictures from sweeping vistas to near the atomic level using the first atomic force microscope ever used outside
Earth. "Phoenix not only met the tremendous challenge of landing safely,
it accomplished scientific investigations on 149 of its 152 Martian days as a result of dedicated
work by a talented team," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. Phoenix's preliminary science accomplishments
advance the goal of studying whether the Martian arctic environment has ever been favorable for microbes. Additional findings
include documenting a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found by earlier Mars missions; finding small concentrations
of salts that could be nutrients for life; discovering perchlorate salt, which has implications for ice and soil properties;
and finding calcium carbonate, a marker of effects of liquid water. Phoenix findings
also support the goal of learning the history of water on Mars. These findings include excavating soil above the ice table, revealing at least two distinct
types of ice deposits; observing snow descending from clouds; providing a mission-long weather record, with data on temperature,
pressure, humidity and wind; observations of haze, clouds, frost and whirlwinds; and coordinating with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform simultaneous ground
and orbital observations of Martian weather. " Phoenix provided an
important step to spur the hope that we can show Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life," said Doug McCuistion,
director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington . " Phoenix
was supported by orbiting NASA spacecraft providing communications relay while producing their own fascinating science. With
the upcoming launch of the Mars Science Laboratory,
the Mars Program never sleeps." The University of Arizona leads
the Phoenix mission with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Denver. International
contributions came from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; the Finnish Meteorological Institute;
and Imperial College of London. For additional information
about Phoenix mission findings, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena , Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles@email.arizona.edu NEWS RELEASE: 2008-205
Nov. 10, 2008 Mars Phoenix Lander
Finishes Successful Work on Red Planet LOS ANGELES, Calif.
-- NASA's
Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As
anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight
for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments. Mission engineers last received a signal from the lander on Nov. 2. Phoenix, in addition to shorter daylight, has encountered a dustier sky, more
clouds and colder temperatures as the northern Mars summer approaches autumn. The mission exceeded its planned operational
life of three months to conduct and return science data. The project
team will be listening carefully during the next few weeks to hear if Phoenix revives and phones home. However, engineers
now believe that is unlikely because of the worsening weather conditions on Mars. While the spacecraft's work has ended,
the analysis of data from the instruments is in its earliest stages. "
Phoenix has given us some surprises, and I'm confident we will be pulling more gems from this trove of data for years
to come," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona
in Tucson . Launched Aug. 4, 2007, Phoenix landed May 25, 2008, farther
north than any previous spacecraft to land on the Martian surface. The lander dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted the
Red Planet's soil. Among early results, it verified the presence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, which NASA's
Mars Odyssey orbiter first detected remotely in 2002. Phoenix 's cameras also returned more
than 25,000 pictures from sweeping vistas to near the atomic level using the first atomic force microscope ever used outside
Earth. "Phoenix not only met the tremendous challenge of landing safely,
it accomplished scientific investigations on 149 of its 152 Martian days as a result of dedicated
work by a talented team," said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. Phoenix's preliminary science accomplishments
advance the goal of studying whether the Martian arctic environment has ever been favorable for microbes. Additional findings
include documenting a mildly alkaline soil environment unlike any found by earlier Mars missions; finding small concentrations
of salts that could be nutrients for life; discovering perchlorate salt, which has implications for ice and soil properties;
and finding calcium carbonate, a marker of effects of liquid water. Phoenix findings
also support the goal of learning the history of water on Mars. These findings include excavating soil above the ice table, revealing at least two distinct
types of ice deposits; observing snow descending from clouds; providing a mission-long weather record, with data on temperature,
pressure, humidity and wind; observations of haze, clouds, frost and whirlwinds; and coordinating with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to perform simultaneous ground
and orbital observations of Martian weather. " Phoenix provided an
important step to spur the hope that we can show Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life," said Doug McCuistion,
director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington . " Phoenix
was supported by orbiting NASA spacecraft providing communications relay while producing their own fascinating science. With
the upcoming launch of the Mars Science Laboratory,
the Mars Program never sleeps." The University of Arizona leads
the Phoenix mission with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin Corporation in Denver. International
contributions came from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; the Finnish Meteorological Institute;
and Imperial College of London. For additional information
about Phoenix mission findings, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu .
Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena , Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov Jennifer Huergo 240-228-5618
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md.
jennifer.huergo@jhuapl.edu NEWS RELEASE: 2008-198
Oct. 28, 2008 NASA Orbiter Reveals Details of a Wetter
Mars PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed a new category
of minerals spread across large regions of Mars. This discovery suggests that liquid water remained on the planet's surface
a billion years later than scientists believed, and it played an important role in shaping the planet's surface and possibly
hosting life. Researchers examining data from the orbiter's Compact
Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars have found evidence of hydrated
silica, commonly known as opal. The hydrated, or water-containing, mineral deposits are telltale signs of where and
when water was present on ancient Mars. "This is an exciting
discovery because it extends the time range for liquid water on Mars, and the places where
it might have supported life," said Scott Murchie, the spectrometer's principal investigator
at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel , Md. "The identification of opaline silica tells
us that water may have existed as recently as 2 billion years ago." Until now, only two major groups of hydrated minerals, phyllosilicates and hydrated sulfates, had been observed by spacecraft
orbiting Mars. Clay-like phyllosilicates formed more than 3.5 billion years ago where igneous rock
came into long-term contact with water. During the next several hundred million years, until approximately 3 billion years
ago, hydrated sulfates formed from the evaporation of salty and sometimes acidic water. The newly discovered opaline silicates are the youngest of the three types of hydrated minerals. They formed where
liquid water altered materials created by volcanic activity or meteorite impact on the Martian
surface. One such location noted by scientists is the large Martian canyon system called Valles Marineris. "We see numerous outcrops of opal-like minerals, commonly in thin layers
extending for very long distances around the rim of Valles Marineris and sometimes within the canyon system itself,"
said Ralph Milliken of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena , Calif. Milliken is lead author of an article in the November issue of "Geology" that describes the identification
of opaline silica. The study reveals that the minerals, which also were recently found in Gusev Crater by NASA's Mars rover Spirit, are widespread and occur in relatively young terrains. In some locations, the orbiter's spectrometer observed opaline silica with iron sulfate minerals,
either in or around dry river channels. This indicates the acidic water remained on the Martian surface for an extended period
of time. Milliken and his colleagues believe that in these areas, low-temperature acidic water was involved in forming the
opal. In areas where there is no clear evidence that the water was acidic, deposits may have formed under a wide range of
conditions. "What's important is that the longer liquid water
existed on Mars, the longer the window during which Mars may have supported life," says Milliken. "The opaline silica
deposits would be good places to explore to assess the potential for habitability on Mars, especially in these younger terrains." The spectrometer collects 544 colors, or wavelengths, of reflected sunlight to detect minerals on
the surface of Mars. Its highest resolution is about 20 times sharper than any previous look at the planet in near-infrared
wavelengths. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington .
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver , is the prime contractor for the project and built
the spacecraft. The Applied Physics Laboratory led the effort to build the spectrometer and operates the instrument in coordination
with an international team of researchers from universities, government and the private sector. More information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is at http://www.nasa.gov/mro . | 
