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Hot Topic
Solar System
Mars
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Phoenix Shake and Bake
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| Topic: Mars |
06/23/08 |
| In this interview, William Boynton talks about the TEGA instrument on the Phoenix Lander, and explains what it can tell us about the possibility for life on Mars. |
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It Must Have Been Ice
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| Topic: Mars |
06/20/08 |
| Crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a trench after they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander several days ago. Scientists are convinced that the material was frozen water that vaporized. |
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ExoMars Sweet Spot
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| Topic: Mars |
06/17/08 |
| A device the size of a credit card is being developed to perform multiple laboratory tests on the surface of Mars. The 'lab-on-a-chip' will be included on the European ExoMars rover, and will be used to search for signs of life on the red planet. |
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Testing for Life on Mars
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| Topic: Mars |
06/12/08 |
| Controversy still surrounds the life-detection results from NASA's Viking mission of 30 years ago. The Phoenix mission now on Mars may help answer questions raised by Viking, but researchers will need to be able to spot the difference between chemical and biological signatures. |
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The Ground Moved
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| Topic: Mars |
06/11/08 |
| After vibrating the screen that covers the TEGA instrument, the Phoenix Lander now has its first mouthful of martian soil. |
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Sprinkle to Taste
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| Topic: Mars |
06/10/08 |
| Phoenix was unable to chew on the clumpy martian soil, so the team operating the Lander plans to sprinkle the soil instead. The spoonful of soil will fall onto a wheel, which will then rotate the sample so the Lander´s eagle eye -- the Optical Microscope -- can see it. |
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Mars Soil, Chunky-Style
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| Topic: Mars |
06/08/08 |
| The Phoenix Lander delivered Mars soil to its TEGA instrument for analysis, but the soil may be too clumped together to pass through the mesh screen. TEGA needs fine granular soil, since larger particles could clog the machine. |
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Eager for That First Taste of Mars
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| Topic: Mars |
06/06/08 |
| Phoenix is almost ready to swallow a scoopful of soil, and figure out just what constitutes the ground beneath its feet. |
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Biological Stowaways on Mars
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| Topic: Mars |
06/05/08 |
| Astrobiologists hope to find evidence for life on Mars. Sending spacecraft from Earth to study the planet could introduce biological contamination, however, and lead to a false detection of alien life. New research adds to these concerns with evidence that ATP -- an energy-storage molecule vital to life on Earth. |
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Scooping Mars
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| Topic: Mars |
06/03/08 |
| NASA´s Phoenix lander has lifted its first scoop of martian soil – and possibly martian ice -- as a test of the lander's Robotic Arm. |
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