Water Ice on Mars?
This picture could prove to be one of the most significant in the history of Martian exploration thus far if the suspicions of scientists on Earth are confirmed in the weeks ahead.
The image shows two large light colored areas directly beneath the Phoenix lander that scientists believe are either exposed rock or ice. If it is the latter, it would prove definitively that water exists on Mars and thus opens up the opportunity for the existence of life, past or present. The “outcroppings” were exposed when the engines on Phoenix blasted away the top layer of soil. Tests using the robotic arm in weeks ahead will confirm if the exposed areas are ice or not.
Shuttle Discovery Lifts Off
The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off this evening carrying the $1 billion Kibo laboratory built by the Japanese space agency, JAXA. It will become the largest module on the International Space Station (ISS) and will be Japan’s contribution to the international project.
The mainstream media, like the 8th grade teenage male we know it is, still can’t get over poop jokes. I reluctantly address the topic of the space station’s only toilet malfunctioning, forcing the astronauts on board to temporarily collect “liquid waste” in baggies. Discovery is carrying replacement parts for the toilet.
It is at this point that I must make this conclusion about space news. As a function of society, space news only becomes ”news” under only two circumstances: when the prospects of finding little green men on Mars pops up or when astronauts are faced with the life and death drama of relieving themselves in space without *gasp!* a toilet!