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Introduction

• Ice in the Inner Solar System + Jupiter– Where is it?– What is it?– How did it get there?– Why is it important?

• Mars Phoenix Mission

• Paul Niles– NASA Johnson Space Center– Space Scientist– Work on Mars missions, martian meteorites, Earth analogs– Scientific Motivation:

• Understand the history, origin, and environments of water in the solar system

Mercury

• Surface temperatures can be as hot as ~400ºC• Very little water – There are polar caps, but little is known about

them

Venus

• Similar size and density as the Earth

• Dense CO2 atmosphere • Surface temp. ~350°C

– hot enough to melt lead!• Runaway Greenhouse

Effect

• We have already visited the Moon

• 6 different missions landed on the Moon– Apollo 11 - 17

• Very little water – perhaps some ice exists at

the poles• Atmosphere is a vacuum – very

cold

The Moon

Near Earth Asteroids

• Huge number of bodies of largely unknown composition– Meteorites on Earth sample some of the diversity– Most are probably “rocky” with very little ice-content– Some may be “extinct comets”, or may just include some ice

• Can be identified with telescopic spectroscopy from Earth

Comets

JupiterJupiter’’s Moonss Moons• Water content affected by

proximity to Jupiter• Majority probably contain > 10

km thick layers of water/ice• Europa and probably

Ganymede both have liquid water oceans in the subsurface

The Phoenix Mars Mission

Doug LombardiEducation and Public Outreach Manager

Lunar and Planetary LaboratoryThe University of Arizona

lombardi@lpl.arizona.edu

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

180˚ 210˚ 240˚ 270˚ 300˚ 330˚ 0˚ 30˚ 60˚ 90˚ 120˚ 150˚ 180˚

East Longitude

30˚

-30˚

0˚ Latit

ude

60˚

-60˚

-8 -4 0 4 8 12 km

Opportunity Spirit

MPFVL1

VL2

Phoenix Landing Site Is Much Farther North Relative to the Other Landers

Phoenix

Odyssey Gamma Ray Subsystem sees water ice within the top meter of the surface

(July 2002)

Models predict water ice;Dark blue signal shows high H content

Phoenix Goals

Goal #1: Study the history of and current state of waterWas there past standing water?Does unfrozen water exist?What processes shape the surface?What is the amount and state of water in the soil and in the atmosphere?

Goal #2: Search for habitable zones (not life detection)Are there organics (C-based molecules) in the soil and do they vary with depth?Are there other elements of relevance to biology (C, H, N, O, P, S)?Can unfrozen water layers exist?Is the soil acidic or basic?

TEGA

Robotic armand camera

Surface Stereo Imager

LIDARMECA

Meteorology

Thermocouples

Meteorological Station (MET)

TelltaleWind Guage

Lidar

Contributed by the Canadian Space Agency, the MET will determine temperature, pressure, wind speed, humidity, cloud ice crystals, and atmospheric dust

TECP

LaunchAugust 4, 2007

Phoenix Landing Site

66.5° 65°

ICE CAP

Arctic Circle

Arctic Circle

Landing Site

Antarctic Dry Valley Soil/Ice History and HabitabilityAnalog for the Phoenix Mission

International Polar Year

Comparative Planetology for Earth and Mars Polar Regions

An Ice-richLanding Site

HiRISE view of northern plains

Antarctic Dry Valleys

Earth Polygons

Mars Polygons

Mars Polygons

Antarctica Dry Valleys

BeaconValley

1

2

Beacon ValleySublimation-Type Wedges

Upland Zone

Stable Upland Inland Mixed Coastal Thaw

Sublimation-Type Sand-Wedge Ice-Wedge

Marchant and Head (2007)

MRO view of Phoenix during landingLanding

May 25, 2008

Heimdall crater

Lander and Parachute

First view of the Martian

northern plains

Polygon Terrain

The Search for IceSnow Queen

Under the Lander (Robotic Arm Camera Image)

The Search for Ice

Holy Cow!

“Dodo-Goldilocks” Trench

Ice Found!

Snow White Trench and Drill Holes

True Color False Color

Sample in the Scoop

3 in

Clouds on Mars

Sol 126

Sol 119

Fall Streaks

Frost at the Landing Site

36

Summary

• Ice in the Inner Solar System + Jupiter– Earth and Mars contain abundant water– Mercury, Venus and the Moon probably have very little– Near Earth Asteroids are not well known but are diverse

• Some may have abundance ice– Some of Jupiter’s moons have subsurface oceans

• Ice on Mars – Studied by Phoenix– Exists in the near subsurface – similar to polar regions on

Earth