Mars is a planet that has received considerable attention from Hollywood over the years. For decades, in the mid to late 20th century, Hollywood would produce movie after movie depicting Martians as little green men who were nasty Earth invaders. Sometimes men from Mars simply sported green face paint, but they almost always wore a jumpsuit of some type.

Occasionally, though, Martians were not small or green. In movies called "Flying Disc Man From Mars" (1950) and "Flight to Mars" (1951), Martians looked just like us. However, in a 1960s movie called "The Angry Red Planet." there's no shortage of scary Martian creatures. Martian Monsters included giant green bat-spiders, man-eating plants, amorphous slithering blobs with one eye, and three-eyed Martians with devil horns.

In "The War of the Worlds," the classic 1898 H.G. Wells novel, invading Martians are described as having a quivering, V-shaped mouth, huge brains with tentacles, intense eyes, and an oily brown skin. Martians used robots for their manual labor.

In the 1953 movie, "Invaders From Mars," Hollywood shows Martians for the first time in color. While the Martian Master is more akin to Wells' literary creature, the workers are humanoid, with ping-pong eyeballs and three fingers. And they're unique in their oversized hoodies with zippers running up the backs.

However, in the 1960s, television would provide a much more positive impression of Martians. In 1963, in the comedy series "My Favorite Martian", lovable actor Ray Walston was only made distinct from humans by the retractable antennae sitting on top of his otherwise normal human head.

I was thinking about how all of this Hollywood science fiction and hype has shaped our thinking of Mars, as I watched the successful landing of NASA's robotic spaceship on the planet's surface the other day. I wondered if the late 20th century Hollywood science fiction writers could ever imagine a day when a spacecraft from Earth would actually enter the Martian atmosphere. They could certainly never envision a spaceship that would be traveling at a speed of 13,000 miles per hour just seven short minutes before actually landing on a planned spot on the Martian surface.

In fact the entry into Mars' atmosphere and landing on the planet's surface were thought to be the most dangerous part of the Phoenix mission by NASA scientists. However, the spacecraft would land perfectly in the Vastitas Borealis Plains within the Martian Arctic Circle. This mission had been planned since the Mars Odyssey detected frozen water below the planet's surface in 2002. The Phoenix Mars landing is at a latitude comparable to that of northern Alaska on Earth.

The purpose of the Phoenix mission is to discover not only the history of the planet's water and ice, but also whether the region could support microbial life. Crucial to this question will be tests for complex, carbon-based chemicals (organics) in the soil and signs that the ice periodically melts. Other soil tests will determine abundances of different minerals, and the laboratory will also subject dust grains to microscopic examination.

Phoenix will be stationary for three months on Mars as it carries out these scientific operations on the planet's surface. Phoenix's stereo camera, located on its 2-meter (6.6-foot) mast, will use two "eyes" to reveal a high-resolution perspective of the landing site's geology. It will also provide range maps for use in choosing where to dig. Multi-spectral capability will enable the identification of local minerals.

The solar-powered craft will deploy a robotic arm to dig down vertically through the soil toward the planet's icy crust. The arm was designed to deliver samples of Martian soil to the spacecraft's wet chemistry lab and tiny ovens for scientific analysis. The samples will be heated to release volatiles that can be examined for their chemical composition and other characteristics. One goal is to check whether subsurface samples hold carbon-containing compounds that are essential ingredients of life.

To increase scientific understanding of Martian atmospheric processes, Phoenix will scan the atmosphere up to twelve miles in altitude, obtaining data about the formation, duration, and movement of clouds, fog, and dust plumes. It also carries temperature and pressure sensors.

A better understanding of Mars is important to scientists since the planet is a primary long-term target for human exploration. Current plans are for a colonization of the Moon by NASA during the next decade. An outpost on the lunar surface would make a future launch of a manned spacecraft to Mars a distinct possibility in the decades that follow.

The next ninety days will determine the ultimate success of the first robotic spacecraft to land on Mars in over a decade. The Phoenix will surely become a trailblazer for future missions that will continue to explore the planet‘s surface. As far as all those movies about little green men and other creatures from Mars are concerned, real science is now about to replace science fiction. Indeed, NASA's Phoenix spacecraft has arrived on the surface of Mars. Its arrival marks the end of Martians as portrayed in Hollywood fiction.

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Update on Thursday, July 31, 2008 at 04:49PM by Jim Smith

NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water, Mission Extended

 

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Laboratory tests aboard NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The lander's robotic arm delivered the sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.

"We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. "We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

With enticing results so far and the spacecraft in good shape, NASA also announced operational funding for the mission will extend through Sept. 30. The original prime mission of three months ends in late August. The mission extension adds five weeks to the 90 days of the prime mission.

"Phoenix is healthy and the projections for solar power look good, so we want to take full advantage of having this resource in one of the most interesting locations on Mars," said Michael Meyer, chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2 inches deep. When the robotic arm first reached that depth, it hit a hard layer of frozen soil. Two attempts to deliver samples of icy soil on days when fresh material was exposed were foiled when the samples became stuck inside the scoop. Most of the material in Wednesday's sample had been exposed to the air for two days, letting some of the water in the sample vaporize away and making the soil easier to handle.

"Mars is giving us some surprises," said Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're excited because surprises are where discoveries come from. One surprise is how the soil is behaving. The ice-rich layers stick to the scoop when poised in the sun above the deck, different from what we expected from all the Mars simulation testing we've done. That has presented challenges for delivering samples, but we're finding ways to work with it and we're gathering lots of information to help us understand this soil."

Update on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 06:28AM by Jim Smith

Mars dust resembles seawater, NASA extends mission

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Mon Sep 29, 3:57 PM ET 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA extended the mission of the busy Phoenix lander on Monday, saying it will operate until it dies in the cold, dark Martian winter.

The lander found evidence that the chemical makeup of the dust on the surface of Mars resembles that of sea water, adding to evidence that liquid water that once may have supported life flowed on the planet's surface.

 

The Phoenix lander already has operated far longer than expected when it was dropped onto the Martian surface in May, and its controllers said they would squeeze every drop of life they could out of the solar-powered lander.

"We are literally trying to make hay as the sun shines," Barry Goldstein, Phoenix project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told reporters.

Scheduled to last just 90 Martian days, known as sols, the lander has already operated for more than 120.

But the sun will soon dip below the horizon until April. Already the lander is getting less power, after a summer of light-filled days akin to the months of daylight at Earth's poles in the summer.

In July, the Phoenix team reported definitive proof of water after the lander scraped up ice. It also found perchlorate, a chemical compound used by plants and microbes and it has sent back the first image of a speck of red Martian dust taken through an atomic force microscope.

The latest analysis shows evidence of a carbonate chemical, likely calcium carbonate, best known as limestone, said William Boynton, who leads a team operating the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer at the University of Arizona.

And, said JPL's Michael Hecht, further analysis shows the Martian dust is about as alkaline as seawater, with a pH of 8.3, more evidence that life could have existed on Mars.

Mars weatherman Jim Whiteway of the University of Toronto said the lander has seen snow, frost and clouds forming. "This is now occurring every night," he said -- although it is not yet clear whether any snow reaches the surface.

Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the University of Arizona, said Mars wobbles more than Earth does as it spins, so sometimes its poles point directly at the Sun. They would be warmer then, perhaps warm enough to melt ice that Phoenix has confirmed lies just below the red dust.

"If you were to sweep away this thin soil layer on what looks like this flat plain you would find it is more like a skating rink," Smith said.

"Is this a habitable zone on Mars? I think we are approaching this hypothesis," he added.

Smith said the scientists plan to turn on a microphone that was supposed to record the lander's descent in May but did not. "We are going to try and turn on this microphone and try to listen to Mars for the first time," he said.