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APOD: Phoenix and the Snow Queen

apod.nasa.gov — A flat, smooth, shiny feature dubbed the Snow Queen is near the top of this color mosaic of the surface beneath the Phoenix Mars Lander. Recorded with the lander's robotic arm camera as it was maneuvered to look under the lander, the region also includes a leg and plate-sized footpad

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  • AresDiggs, on 06/12/2008, -3/+22Can't wait for the day when there is a humans foot print on the surface and not just the landers..
    • hexydes, on 06/12/2008, -13/+4Better not vote for Obama then.

      Go ahead, bury me. It doesn't change the truth.
      • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -4/+1why? I'm not for McCain, for sure, but your statement makes no sense. There's been six missions to mars under bush, one to pluto, one solar, and one to venus. So if McCain is business as usual, NASA should be fine. After all, they are part of the Military industrial complex.

        So yeah, I'm burying you. I can't stand Bush, but I REALLY can't stand it when people ignore fact and draw false conclusions based on nothing but pure fanboyism, and the fact there is no popular Obama thread at the exact moment you chose to shirk your responsibilities at work and troll here.

        Politics isn't for blind followers, and people who can't think for themselves. They can just as easily be republicans as democrats. We'd all be better off if they left the voting to the big kids.
        • hexydes, on 06/12/2008, -2/+3Eh?

          OP: I can't wait until someone walks on Mars.

          Known fact: Obama wants to delay the Constellation program, a program which will further OP's effort.

          Me: Don't vote for Obama, because he wants to make getting to Mars harder.

          You: HATE ANGER MAD >=(

          Me: ???
        • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -1/+1misunderstood what you were saying. (sheepishly quiet)

          sorry for the hateangermad >=(

      • maybeishould, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1Thank you for speaking the truth. Too many people automatically assume that Obama is progressive in everything. Well, almost everything. He has stated that he wishes to use Project Constellation money to fund an $18-billion education plan. Project Constellation is the program that will eventually put humans on Mars.
    • ColorBlind, on 06/12/2008, -10/+1Will never happen.
      • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2Why?

        o right. the 2012 thing.

        nvm. I'm just going to back away slowly now. This pepper spray thing is just binaca, no worries.
    • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -1/+3I can't wait till they find those OXYGEN BUGS... Those were badass.

      They should prolly give any robots named LUCY a good second round of debugging before bringing along though..
    • FLarsen, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1Mars has an atmosphere though, so they won't last. Unlike the moon which has no atmosphere.
  • macosta5811, on 06/12/2008, -8/+1God save the Martian Ice Snow Queen!!
  • TonvanDijk, on 06/12/2008, -9/+2Pretty amazing stuff. I really hope these pictures were not made in Universal Studios ;-)
    • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2Get your conspiracy theories right.. The studio is in Houston.
  • Fuzzycop, on 06/12/2008, -9/+2"I'm melting! melllting! What a [Martian] world! What a world!"

    -The Martian Snow Queen under the thrusters
  • Runningclaire, on 06/12/2008, -10/+2It's astounding how wonderfully clear these images from Phoenix are.....although it looks as though someone left a mobile (cell) phone at the botom of the leg?
    • SamuelHenderson, on 06/12/2008, -1/+1"An intriguing detail near the footpad at about the 2 o'clock position, is a metal spring partially buried in martian soil, a piece of the arm's now opened biobarrier."

      From the blurb below the picture...

      (I saw that too and was wondering what the hell it was at first)
  • wefarrell, on 06/12/2008, -11/+5This picture has clearly been photoshopped.
    • ZachSka87, on 06/12/2008, -1/+3Wow, lol....apparently diggers sarcasm detectors are broken today.....
    • abuelos84, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2Yes, it has been indeed.
  • suckanucka, on 06/12/2008, -7/+6Image stitching ftw.
  • ligyron, on 06/12/2008, -8/+3The camera lens appears to be broken
  • PhantomPhoenix, on 06/12/2008, -2/+3Ice on Mars!
  • googooly, on 06/12/2008, -7/+6has anyone consider the white powder could be crystal salt ?
    • Duositex, on 06/12/2008, -1/+8Clearly you should work for NASA with insight like this.
    • georgetds, on 06/12/2008, -2/+3How does one form salt crystals?
      • googooly, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2left over from grandma's dinner party perhaps ?
    • Olivaw, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Could be martian coke. Martians know how to party!
  • Linake, on 06/12/2008, -3/+5"Only let her come in!" said the Phoenix "Then I'd put her on the stove, and she'd melt."

    Or in the oven, as the case may be.
  • Koppie, on 06/12/2008, -3/+7I for one welcome our new Martian Snow Queen master.
  • mu0p, on 06/12/2008, -4/+3Man the arm of the rover looks fake in the picture, i KNOW its real, but im just saying looks a little funky. I cant wait for more surface pics to arrive so I can see more ice!
  • centifuge, on 06/12/2008, -2/+20This is cool as hell.
    There is an ongoing debate between some NASA scientists as to whether that is water ice, carbon dioxide (DRY) ice, or salt deposit. Only the gas analyzer and mass spectrometer TEGA will let us know for sure. Those data should be available within a week. Water ice at -22F would be a killer discovery, as it suggests that microbial fossils (or even life) may be present on Mars.

    Phoenix has a twitter account where you can follow up to the minute updates here twitter.com/Marsphoenix

    By the way, the phoenix mission cost roughly 500 million and has been a success so far. Think about the 500 billion that we have so far spent in Iraq, and the total cost estimation at over 1 trillion - we SHOULD BE ON MARS by now, checking it out.
    Hopefully in my life time.
    • gn0stik, on 06/12/2008, -0/+4There's a lot we could have done with that money.
      • Dustmuffins, on 06/12/2008, -1/+1I could have gotten myself a LOT of ice cream.
      • BeardDob, on 06/13/2008, -0/+0The money spent on Iraq or this mission ?

        To me the money spent on these missions is well worth it. This is some of the most exciting stuff I can imagine.
    • Jerryskid02, on 06/13/2008, -1/+1I guess it's cool if there is "life" on Mars. But in honesty, what's the point? I really don't understand. 500 million dollars to tell us there is water on Mars. Couldn't we use that money to better the lives of people here on Earth who don't have much of anything?
    • centifuge, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1There is a fine line between helping people with charity and using taxes to just socialize the whole country. That is called communism, and it doesn't work.

      Using tax money for Space exploration and garnering knowledge through science (National Institute of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, etc.) is a good way to spend tax money, IMHO, and NASA, for all their problems, has a pretty good track record of A) getting people excited to be American, and B) Furthering our understanding of the Cosmos.

      As for your first comment on life on Mars - it would through a loop in many religions (Christianity, Judaism, etc.) that believe our planet is the only with Life, as god created it that way. That is why it is important - as well as to prove to all naysayers that there must be life out there somewhere, and its worth seeking out.

      Just my .02, of course
  • cpwhitten, on 06/12/2008, -4/+0i am sure richard branson is already selling tickets to mars!
  • fcrow, on 06/12/2008, -3/+1Would be cool if the next [insert planet] Lander has AI and uses Twitter.
    • 4degrees, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2this lander sort of uses twitter, in that houston is twittering for it... seems close enough.
    • 3Den, on 06/12/2008, -2/+0Yeha, because twitter is so reliable...
  • zephyr42, on 06/12/2008, -2/+1I dunno... mars is starting to look like a big beach... without the waves.
  • nicheplayer, on 06/12/2008, -2/+10I just can't get over the fact that this is frickin' Mars. Mars! It's astounding.

    Unless it's some soundstage in Nevada, in which case, forget I said anything.
  • cschmitz, on 06/12/2008, -4/+1I guess that answers the question from that david bowie song, "Is there ice on maaaaaars..." :P


  • tschlink, on 06/12/2008, -4/+4So can we officially say we've littered on more than just one planet now?

    /humor
  • redrighthand, on 06/12/2008, -4/+6Jesus Christ The ***** moon! http://www.blogjam.com/neil_armstrong/
    • mu0p, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2Thats my saying to everyone when they say "wait a robot is on mars?" then i says "Yes, a fuking robot, on fuking mars.. can you fuking believe it."
      • redrighthand, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2Jesus christ in a chicken basket!
  • quietamerican, on 06/12/2008, -5/+1I'd hit it.
  • bman85, on 06/12/2008, -1/+6Not trying to say that i don't appreciate it, but doesn't pretty much every APOD picture get posted on Digg?

    I don't know about you, but i have an APOD feed right above my digg feed on my Google homepage...
    • AlienHairball, on 06/12/2008, -1/+2Yep. I was just thinking the same thing and believe me I love me some APOD images, but it just seems silly to have them *all* posted here. Ah well, I still them quicker in my Netvibes feed and honestly I'd rather see APOD posts on digg than some other crap that shows up. :)
      • bman85, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2Yeah, I'm the same way, i almost always am interested by the APOD picture, and its good to see what other people have to say about it, so Digg on, i guess!
    • k7jeb, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1I've got to think that the APOD maintainers are using the Digg count to justify something to the bean-counters/suits at NASA. The APOD is a totally free, totally non-commercial service of NASA, so there will always be questions about funding justifications and maybe raw page visits don't answer those completely. Sorry to the other people at Digg for having APOD pop up on 'popular' every day, but they'll have to pry my daily APOD from my cold, dead, Digging fingers.
  • solecize, on 06/12/2008, -3/+2I wonder why they named that ice vagina "snow queen"?

    "In fact, the apparent holes or depressions in the Snow Queen's otherwise flat surface are located just under the thrusters."
  • BufordT, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Dugg for being an APOD post with an exotic title "Phoenix and the Snow Queen" that didn't involve trying to distinguish shapes amongst star clusters of mythical creatures in some far off galaxy.
  • Bentec, on 06/12/2008, -0/+0Magnifico trabalho da equipe da Phoenix. Quero tambĂ©m lembrar o aniversário do Humble.
    Carlos Bentec - Rio de Janeiro - Brasil
  • tehsly, on 06/12/2008, -2/+2how did this hit front pages!?
  • freethinkerusa, on 06/13/2008, -0/+3What is that shell looking thing by the landers foot?
  • bouche, on 06/13/2008, -0/+4I've got news for you. ANY of the APOD submissions (regardless of their quality), are much more interesting the most of the posts that appear on the Digg front page.

    And ONE post a day can be SOOOOO hard to ignore, I know. But just try to use the time it takes to write your lame complaint and just move along.
  • OneHandBandito, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1That's gotta be ice
  • fcampelo, on 06/13/2008, -0/+0Nice mosaic of a fantastic feat of human engineering and science. Let's hope for interesting results!
  • MrVeal, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1I'm going to say this for everyone... Where the ***** is the snow?? All I hear about are ice caps but all these pictures ever is red dirt.
    • k7jeb, on 06/13/2008, -0/+1The whole object of Phoenix is apparently to eat the red snow.
  •  

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