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 6/10 Very Good --- www.newscientist.com http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/atom.xml
Monday, August 04, 2008 --- 16 days ago http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2008/08/what-is-phoenix-mars-landers-big.
 The blogosphere is abuzz about a supposedly big discovery - relating to the 'potential for life' on Mars - by the Phoenix lander. Craig Covault of Aviation Week , who broke the story on Friday, says members of the lander's wet chemistry lab were kept out of a news briefing last Thursday . "The goal was to prevent them from being asked any questions that could reveal information before NASA is ready to make an announcement," he reported. The story said NASA hoped to release the news as early as mid-August and that the White House had been briefed on the discovery. What might the big news be? We won't know for sure until the team spills the beans, of course. But if it does in fact relate to the wet chemistry lab (WCL), which is part of the lander's MECA suite of instruments, it might be possible to narrow down the options based on what the WCL can do. One thing it definitely cannot do is detect life itself - past or present. None of Phoenix's instruments are built to do that. The wet chemistry lab dissolves small amounts of soil in liquid water - carried onboard from Earth - to "determine the pH, the abundance of minerals such as magnesium and sodium cations or chloride, bromide and sulfate anions, as well as the conductivity and redox potential" of the sample, reads an online description. Part of the experiment subjects the soil-solution to four solid reagents. "The first contains an acid to tease out carbonates and other constitue ... |
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