100 Years of Space Rock: The Tunguska Impact

Feature June 27, 2008



100 Years of Space Rock: The Tunguska Impact

At around 7:17 on the morning of June 30, 1908, a man based at the trading post at Vanavara in Siberia is
sitting on his front porch. In a moment, 40 miles from the center of an immense blast of unknown origin, he
will be hurled from his chair and the heat will be so intense he will feel as though his shirt is on fire. The
man at the trading post, and others in a largely uninhabited region of Siberia, near the Podkamennaya
Tunguska River, are to be accidental eyewitnesses to cosmological history.

"If you want to start a conversation with anyone in the asteroid business all you have to say is Tunguska,"
said Don Yeomans, manager of the Near-Earth Object Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "It is
the only entry of a large meteoroid we have in the modern era with first-hand accounts."

While the impact occurred in '08, the first scientific expedition to the area would have to wait for 19 years.
In 1921, Leonid Kulik, the chief curator for the meteorite collection of the St. Petersburg museum led an
expedition to Tunguska. But the harsh conditions of the Siberian outback thwarted his team's attempt to
reach the area of the blast. In 1927, a new expedition, again lead by Kulik, reached its goal.

"At first, the locals were reluctant to tell Kulik about the event," said Yeomans. "They believed the blast
was a visitation by the god Ogdy, who had cursed the area by smashing trees and killing animals."

While testimonials may have at first been difficult to obtain, there was plenty of evidence lying around.
Eight hundred square miles of remote forest had been ripped asunder. Eighty million trees were on their
sides, lying in a radial pattern.

"Those trees acted as markers, pointing directly away from the blast's epicenter," said Yeomans. "Later,
when the team arrived at ground zero, they found the trees there standing upright -- but their limbs and bark
had been stripped away. They looked like a forest of telephone poles."

Such debranching requires fast moving shock waves that break off a tree's branches before the branches can
transfer the impact momentum to the tree's stem. Thirty seven years after the Tunguska blast, branchless
trees would be found at the site of another massive explosion -- Hiroshima, Japan.

Kulik's expeditions (he traveled to Tunguska on three separate occasions) did finally get some of the locals
to talk. One was the man based at the Vanara trading post who witnessed the heat blast as he was launched
a few yards. His account:

Suddenly in the north sky… the sky was split in two, and high above the
forest the whole northern part of the sky appeared covered with fire…
At that moment there was a bang in the sky and a mighty crash… The
crash was followed by a noise like stones falling from the sky, or of
guns firing. The earth trembled.

The massive explosion packed a wallop. The resulting seismic shockwave registered with sensitive
barometers as far away as England. Dense clouds formed over the region at high altitudes which reflected
sunlight from beyond the horizon. Night skies glowed, and reports came in that people who lived as far
away as Asia could read newspapers outdoors as late as midnight. Locally, hundreds of reindeer, the
livelihood of local herders, were killed, but there was no direct evidence that any person perished in the
blast.

"A century later some still debate the cause and come up with different scenarios that could have caused the
explosion," said Yeomans. "But the generally agreed upon theory is that on the morning of June 30, 1908, a
large space rock, about 120 feet across, entered the atmosphere of Siberia and then detonated in the sky."

It is estimated the asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere traveling at a speed of about 33,500 miles per hour.
During its quick plunge, the 220-million-pound space rock heated the air surrounding it to 44,500 degrees
Fahrenheit. At 7:17 a.m. (local Siberia time), at a height of about 28,000 feet, the combination of pressure
and heat caused the asteroid to fragment and annihilate itself, producing a fireball and releasing energy
equivalent to about 185 Hiroshima bombs.

"That is why there is no impact crater," said Yeomans. "The great majority of the asteroid is consumed in
the explosion."

Yeomans and his colleagues at JPL's Near-Earth Object Office are tasked with plotting the orbits of
present-day comets and asteroids that cross Earth's path, and could be potentially hazardous to our planet.

Yeomans estimates that, on average, a Tunguska-sized asteroid will enter Earth's atmosphere once every
300 years. On this 100th anniversary of the Tunguska event, does that mean we have 200 years of largely
meteor-free skies?

"Not necessarily," said Yeomans. "The 300 years between Tunguska-sized events is an average based on
our best science. I think about Tunguska all the time from a scientific point of view, but the thought of a
another Tunguska does not keep me up at night."

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=isJYK9OHIdLQJcJ&s=ddJOIMMlG9IAKLOrGnG&m=9nKEJUPsFcJTE

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: June 16-27, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
June 16-27, 2008

o Clouds (Released 16 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080616a

o Channel and Graben (Released 17 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080617a

o Collapse (Released 18 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080618a

o Lava Channel (Released 19 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080619a

o Polar Dunes (Released 20 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080620a

o Polar Dunes (Released 23 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080623a

o Mix of Textures (Released 24 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080624a

o Lyot Crater Dunes (Released 25 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080625a

o Olympus Mons (Released 26 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080626a

o Cerulli Channels (Released 27 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080627a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ddJOLUMmF4JCIWK&s=hhKWJYMBIdKIJXOHKrG&m=aeKGJXMvFbLUF

MRO HiRISE Images - June 25, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
June 25, 2008

o Polygons, Crater Layers, and Defrosting Dunes

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008426_2595

o Layers at Margin of Hellas Impact Basin

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008387_1510

o Indicators of Recent Winds on Mars

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007153_2505

o Volcanic and Clay Materials Near Nili Fossae

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007055_2015

o A Crater Superposed on Chaotic Terrain Near the
Head of a Dao Vallis Branch

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005881_1465

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at

http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by t
he University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.,
built the HiRISE instrument.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ffISK0NuG5IKL7K&s=eeIQIPNpFaICJONvEoE&m=9nLEKUOrG9KRE

Cassini to Earth: 'Mission Accomplished, But New Questions Await!'

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
carolina.martinez@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-122 June 27, 2008

Cassini to Earth: 'Mission Accomplished, But New Questions Await!'

PASADENA, Calif.—NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and
embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it
closer to two of its most intriguing targets—Titan and Enceladus.

On June 30, Cassini completes its four-year prime mission and begins its extended mission,
which was approved in April of this year.

Among other things, Cassini revealed the Earth-like world of Saturn's moon Titan and showed
the potential habitability of another moon, Enceladus. These two worlds are primary targets in
the two-year extended mission, dubbed the Cassini Equinox Mission. This time period also will
allow for monitoring seasonal effects on Titan and Saturn, exploring new places within Saturn's
magnetosphere, and observing the unique ring geometry of the Saturn equinox in August of 2009
when sunlight will pass directly through the plane of the rings.

"We've had a wonderful mission and a very eventful one in terms of the scientific discoveries
we've made, and yet an uneventful one when it comes to the spacecraft behaving so well," said
Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. "We are incredibly proud to have completed all of the objectives we set out to accomplish
when we launched. We answered old questions and raised quite a few new ones and so our
journey continues."

A new addition to the Cassini science team is Bob Pappalardo who will step into the role of
Cassini Project Scientist in July, taking over for Dennis Matson, a multi-year veteran on the
project who will be working on future flagship mission studies to the outer solar system. "I am
honored and humbled to be able to work with such a scientifically rich mission, and with the
outstanding scientists and engineers who are the backbone of Cassini," said Pappalardo.

Pappalardo is a geologist whose research focuses on processes that have shaped the icy moons of
the outer solar system, including processes that power the geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
He received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and his Ph.D. in
geology from Arizona State University, Tempe. He worked with the Galileo imaging team while
a Postdoctoral Researcher at Brown University, Providence, RI. Prior to joining JPL in 2006, he
was an assistant professor of planetary sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Currently he resides in Venice, Calif. More information on Pappalardo is at

http://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Pappalardo .

Cassini launched Oct. 15, 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a seven-year journey to Saturn,
traversing 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles). The mission entered Saturn's orbit on June
30, 2004, and began returning stunning data of Saturn's rings almost immediately. The spacecraft
is extremely healthy and carries 12 instruments powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric
generators. Data from Cassini's nominal and extended missions could lay the groundwork for
possible future missions to Saturn, Titan or Enceladus.

Information about the Cassini Equinox Mission is at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

The Cassini Equinox Mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=gqLUK2OxGcJUIcK&s=ffISISPtFbKEJRNzEpE&m=drJMI5NHJcIXH

Phoenix Returns Treasure Trove for Science

Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

J.D. Harrington 202 358-5241
NASA Headquarters
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov

News Release: 2008-121 June 26, 2008

Phoenix Returns Treasure Trove for Science

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet chemistry experiment
on Martian soil flawlessly yesterday, returning a wealth of data that for Phoenix
scientists was like winning the lottery.

"We are awash in chemistry data," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, lead scientist for the Microscopy,
Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, instrument on
Phoenix. "We're trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil
on Mars, what's dissolved in it, how acidic or alkaline it is. With the
results we received from Phoenix yesterday, we could begin to tell what
aspects of the soil might support life."

"This is the first wet-chemical analysis ever done on Mars or any
planet, other than Earth," said Phoenix co-investigator Sam Kounaves of Tufts
University, science lead for the wet chemistry investigation.

About 80 percent of Phoenix's first, two-day wet chemistry experiment is
now complete. Phoenix has three more wet-chemistry cells for use later
in the mission.

"This soil appears to be a close analog to surface soils found in the
upper dry valleys in Antarctica," Kouvanes said. "The alkalinity of the
soil at this location is definitely striking. At this specific location,
one-inch into the surface layer, the soil is very basic, with a pH of
between eight and nine. We also found a variety of components
of salts that we haven't had time to analyze and identify yet, but that
include magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride."

"This is more evidence for water because salts are there. We also found
a reasonable number of nutrients, or chemicals needed by life as we know
it," Kounaves said. "Over time, I've come to the conclusion that the amazing
thing about Mars is not that it's an alien world, but that in many
aspects, like mineralogy, it's very much like Earth."

Another analytical Phoenix instrument, the Thermal and Evolved-Gas
Analyzer (TEGA), has baked its first soil sample to 1,000 degrees
Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit). Never before has a soil sample from
another world been baked to such high heat.

TEGA scientists have begun analyzing the gases released at a range of
temperatures to identify the chemical make-up of soil and ice. Analysis
is a complicated, weeks-long process.

But "the scientific data coming out of the instrument have been just
spectacular," said Phoenix co-investigator William Boynton of the
University of Arizona, lead TEGA scientist.

"At this point, we can say that the soil has clearly interacted with
water in the past. We don't know whether that interaction occurred in
this particular area in the northern polar region, or whether it might
have happened elsewhere and blown up to this area as dust."

Leslie Tamppari, the Phoenix project scientist from JPL, tallied what Phoenix
has accomplished during the first 30 Martian days of its mission, and
outlined future plans.

The Stereo Surface Imager has by now completed about 55 percent of its
three-color, 360-degree panorama of the Phoenix landing site, Tamppari
said. Phoenix has analyzed two samples in its optical microscope as well as
first samples in both TEGA and the wet chemistry laboratory. Phoenix has
been collecting information daily on clouds, dust, winds, temperatures
and pressures in the atmosphere, as well as taking first nighttime
atmospheric measurements.

Lander cameras confirmed that white chunks exposed during trench digging
were frozen water ice because they sublimated, or vaporized, over a few
days. The Phoenix robotic arm dug and sampled, and will continue to dig and
sample, at the 'Snow White' trench in the center of a polygon in the
polygonal terrain.

"We believe this is the best place for creating a profile of the surface
from the top down to the anticipated icy layer," Tamppari said. "This is
the plan we wanted to do when we proposed the mission many years ago.
We wanted a place just like this where we could sample the soil down to
the possible ice layer."

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith of The University of Arizona
with project management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed
Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the
universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute,
Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For more information
on the Phoenix mission, link to http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hhJWL3OzF8KIL6I&s=llK4LaPRIhJQJ9MXJvF&m=drLMK2PJLgJWE

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Puts Soil in Chemistry Lab, Team Discusses Next Steps

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-120 June 25, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Puts Soil in Chemistry Lab, Team Discusses Next Steps

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander placed a sample of Martian soil in the
spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory today for the first time. Results from that
instrument, part of Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer,
are expected to provide the first measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of the planet's
soil.

The analysis of this soil sample and others will help researchers determine whether ice
beneath the soil ever has melted, and whether the soil has other qualities favorable for
life.

The Phoenix team is discussing what sample to deliver next to the lander's other
analytical instrument, which bakes and sniffs soil to identify volatile ingredients.
Engineers have identified possible problems in the mechanical and electrical operation of
that instrument, the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA.

Scientists are studying information provided by TEGA's analysis of the first Martian soil
sample put in that instrument. The instrument has eight single-use oven cells; each cell
can analyze one sample. When doors for a second TEGA oven were commanded open
last week, the doors opened only partway. Later, the team determined that mechanical
interference may prevent doors on that oven and three others from opening fully. The
remaining three ovens are expected to have one door that opens fully and one that opens
partially, as was the case with the first oven used.

"The tests we have done in our test facility during the past few days show the robotic arm
can deliver the simulated Martian soil through the opening with the doors in this
configuration," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson, lead scientist
for TEGA. "We plan to save the cells where doors can open wider for accepting ice
samples."

Scientists believe the first soil sample delivered to TEGA was so clumpy that soil
particles clogged a screen over the opening. Four days of vibration eventually succeeded
at getting the soil through the screen. However, engineers believe the use of a motor to
create the vibration may also have caused a short circuit in wiring near that oven.
Concern about triggering other short circuits has prompted the Phoenix team to be
cautious about the use of other TEGA oven cells.

Subsequent soil samples for TEGA will be delivered with a different method than the
first. The new method will sprinkle soil into the instrument to make it easier for particles
to get through the screens.

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith at the University of Arizona with project
management at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and the
development partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions are
from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the
universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and
the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

- end -

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=eoJPIZNtF4JJJ5K&s=iiKYK1NFIeKKK0NLIsG&m=bfJIISNvGgKWE

NASA Mission to Answer Lingering Questions From Deep Blue Sea

Feature June 25, 2008


NASA Mission to Answer Lingering Questions From Deep Blue Sea

Ocean tides and currents across the globe still hold within their watery grasp the key to
unanswered questions about our planet.

Scientists hope the new follow-on mission to the Jason 1 and Topex/Poseidon satellite
missions, equipped with the latest high-tech instruments, will bring them closer to
answering broad fundamental questions: How does ocean circulation vary from season to
season, from year to year and from decade to decade? How much can the ocean change
from natural and human-induced causes? In what ways does the ocean impact human
activities?

The answers are essential when we consider that oceans cover 70 percent of Earth's
surface. Their contents feed billions of humans and animals alike, support whole
industries, and are the source of the rain and snow that feed the world's freshwater
supply. The newly launched Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2 is poised to
help scientists answer these and other critical scientific questions about ocean
phenomena.

The mission, OSTM/Jason 2 for short, is set to transform what we know about some of
the prevailing weather and climate patterns driven by changes in oceanic tides and
currents.

With Topex/Poseidon and Jason 1, NASA has measured the height of the ocean
surface—more commonly known as sea level—with an accuracy of better than one inch
(2.5 centimeters) from an orbiting altitude of 830 miles (1,336 kilometers). This is
comparable to measuring the thickness of a sheet of paper on the ground from the altitude
of a commercial airliner. Sea level varies greatly over the world's oceans and is not a
constant. Scientists want to learn more about how its fluctuations are related to ocean
circulation, climate change, marine weather, flooding, drought, hurricane intensity and
coastline erosion. The more scientists learn about ocean surface topography, as they will
with OSTM/Jason 2, the better they can apply that knowledge to answer the remaining
mysteries of the oceans.

Scientists know that Earth's climate system has experienced changes throughout its
history. A record of ocean surface topography observations reflecting some of those
changes exists for the last 15 years, thanks to Topex/Poseidon and Jason 1. However,
this period accounts for relatively few moments in the planet's long history.

"The scientific community desperately needs much longer measurement records to begin
to understand year-to-year and decade-to-decade changes in the ocean system," said
OSTM/Jason 2 science team member Carl Wunsch, a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. "Of course, ultimately, our descendants
will need to understand century-to-century and longer variability."

Scientists expect the mission's altimeters to offer added insight into ocean surface
topography when combined with the accomplishments of the previous two missions.
Mean sea level is an indicator of the amount of heat contained in a column of water from
the ocean surface to the ocean floor. That heat is like the driver of a huge underwater
truck that affects ocean currents as it goes. With the longer-term measurements to be
captured by this new mission, scientists will be more in-tune with where the "driver" is
going and why, how it interacts with other forces like wind and rain, and what may
happen in the wake of changes in its route.

"OSTM/Jason 2 will provide a unique data history of sea level rise that will allow us to
answer questions about the effects of global warming," said the mission's science team
member Dudley Chelton of Oregon State University in Corvalis, Ore. "This mission
will also provide insight into the reason why most of the climate models underestimate
the rate of sea level rise. This may be an indication that these models are
underestimating other symptoms of global warming as well."

Less than four percent of ocean waters remain unaffected by humans. Through shipping,
fishing, sewage and fertilizer run-off, pollution, oil spills, and auto and factory
emissions, human activities are changing the chemistry of our oceans. Some of that
human-induced change is combined with natural events that can also impact ocean
temperatures, salinity, acidity and air pressure to influence sea surface height.

Just as humans affect oceans, oceans and related sea level likewise affect humans.
Changes in sea level, like the incremental rises reported in recent years, can cause erosion
of populated coastal areas, freshwater shortages, and disruption of the salt-water balance
that can affect the seafood that feeds people all over the world.

With more thorough foresight into ocean circulation, specifically surface ocean currents,
the fishing industry can reduce fuel costs by mapping more efficient sailing routes that
consider the direction and speed of the oceans' course. Chelton believes that OSTM/Jason
2 will also lead to improved understanding of oceanic eddies and unexpected movements
of jet-like ocean currents. "There is substantial evidence that these eddies play important
roles in the fluctuation of the oceans' heat, momentum and various water properties," he
said.

"Without this next generation of altimeters, there's almost no hope of ever understanding
what is going on and what could happen," said Wunsch. "This new ocean surface topography
mission is precisely what is needed as a next step in telling the oceans' story. With the
technology this mission affords us and the information we can gain from it, we can take more
action to enhance quality of life and protect the bodies of water that sustain us."

For more information on OSTM/Jason 2 on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ostm .

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ddJNKVNwEcKDKXL&s=lvJ4LaORLhLQL9MXJvF&m=hvLUKaPRJnKbE

NASA Spacecraft Reveal Largest Crater in Solar System

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Steve Cole 202-358-0918
Headquarters, Washington
stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

David Chandler 617-253-2704
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
dlc1@mit.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-119 June 25, 2008

NASA Spacecraft Reveal Largest Crater in Solar System

PASADENA, Calif. -- New analysis of Mars' terrain using NASA spacecraft observations
reveals what appears to be by far the largest impact crater ever found in the solar system.

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor have provided detailed
information about the elevations and gravity of the Red Planet's northern and southern
hemispheres. A new study using this information may solve one of the biggest remaining
mysteries in the solar system: Why does Mars have two strikingly different kinds of terrain in its
northern and southern hemispheres? The huge crater is creating intense scientific interest.

The mystery of the two-faced nature of Mars has perplexed scientists since the first
comprehensive images of the surface were beamed home by NASA spacecraft in the 1970s. The
main hypotheses have been an ancient impact or some internal process related to the planet's
molten subsurface layers. The impact idea, proposed in 1984, fell into disfavor because the
basin's shape didn't seem to fit the expected round shape for a crater. The newer data is
convincing some experts who doubted the impact scenario.

"We haven't proved the giant-impact hypothesis, but I think we've shifted the tide," said Jeffrey
Andrews-Hanna, a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge.

Andrews-Hanna and co-authors Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and
Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., report the new findings
in the journal Nature this week.

A giant northern basin that covers about 40 percent of Mars' surface, sometimes called the
Borealis basin, is the remains of a colossal impact early in the solar system's formation, the new
analysis suggests. At 8,500 kilometers (5,300 miles) across, it is about four times wider than the
next-biggest impact basin known, the Hellas basin on southern Mars. An accompanying report
calculates that the impacting object that produced the Borealis basin must have been about 2,000
kiolometers (1,200 miles) across. That's larger than Pluto.

"This is an impressive result that has implications not only for the evolution of early Mars, but
also for early Earth's formation," said Michael Meyer, the Mars chief scientist at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.

This northern-hemisphere basin on Mars is one of the smoothest surfaces found in the solar
system. The southern hemisphere is high, rough, heavily cratered terrain, which ranges from 4 to
8 kilometers (2.5 to 5 miles) higher in elevation than the basin floor.

Other giant impact basins have been discovered that are elliptical rather than circular. But it took
a complex analysis of the Martian surface from NASA's two Mars orbiters to reveal the clear
elliptical shape of Borealis basin, which is consistent with being an impact crater.

One complicating factor in revealing the elliptical shape of the basin was that after the time of
the impact, which must have been at least 3.9 billion years ago, giant volcanoes formed along
one part of the basin rim and created a huge region of high, rough terrain that obscures the
basin's outlines. It took a combination of gravity data, which tend to reveal underlying structure,
with data on current surface elevations to reconstruct a map of Mars elevations as they existed
before the volcanoes erupted.

"In addition to the elliptical boundary of the basin, there are signs of a possible second, outer ring
-- a typical characteristic of large impact basins," Banerdt said.

JPL manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. For more information about the mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

- end -

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=jtJZLdPTInISKcJ&s=mmI6JdPVLiKSLcP1IwF&m=cqJKIVNxFdIWE

New NASA Website Focuses on Global Climate Change

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Alan Buis 818-354-0474 / Diya Chacko 818-393-5464
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.D.Buis@jpl.nasa.gov
dschacko@jpl.nasa.gov

INTERNET ADVISORY: 2008-116 June 23, 2008

New NASA Website Focuses on Global Climate Change

A new website from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is devoted to
educating the public about Earth's changing climate. The Global Climate Change website
provides easy-to-understand information about the causes and effects of climate change
and how NASA studies it.

The new Global Climate Change website may be found at: http://climate.jpl.nasa.gov .

Highlights of the new website include:

* A continuously updated snapshot of our planet's health, built from NASA data on
such climate indicators as the condition of Earth's ice sheets, global average
temperatures, sea level change and concentrations of key greenhouse gases.

* Interactive visualizations of current climate data, including a Sea Level Viewer
that provides views from space of ocean surface topography data and related
phenomena such as El Nin?o; and a Global Climate Change Time Machine that
takes users back in time to see how Earth's climate has changed in the past, and
how it is projected to change in the future.

* A downloadable desktop widget that allows users to track key indicators of
climate change as measured by NASA satellites.

* Easy-to-understand background articles on the evidence, causes and effects, and
uncertainties of global climate change, as well as links to selected resources that
provide information about possible solutions.

* NASA's Eyes on the Earth: An overview of ongoing NASA JPL missions to study
our planet's oceans, atmosphere, land, ice and biosphere.

* The latest news and features from NASA JPL on climate change research.

For more information on NASA's Earth Science Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.

JPL studies all aspects of the Earth system -- our oceans, land, atmosphere, biosphere,
and cryosphere -- to identify how Earth's climate is changing, understand the causes of
these changes, and support development of models used to predict future global change.
Currently, JPL has six dedicated Earth science spacecraft in orbit, with another five
instruments flying aboard NASA's Terra, Aqua and Aura spacecraft. JPL's newest Earth
mission, the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason 2, launched June 20. Several
more missions are planned for launch in the next few years, including the Orbiting
Carbon Observatory, scheduled for launch in January 2009. Decision makers around the
world use JPL Earth science data to support policy-making and resource management
decisions.

JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=jjIZI5PKJhKRIgI&s=kkL2I7ONIgLOL6NTJuG&m=9nJDJNNsHlIWE

Bright Chunks at Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-113 June 19, 2008

Bright Chunks at Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Dice-size crumbs of bright material have vanished from inside a
trench where they were photographed by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander four days ago,
convincing scientists that the material was frozen water that vaporized after digging
exposed it.

"It must be ice," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of
Arizona, Tucson. "These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few
days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. There had been some question whether the
bright material was salt. Salt can't do that."

The chunks were left at the bottom of a trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" when
Phoenix's Robotic Arm enlarged that trench on June 15, during the 20th Martian day, or
sol, since landing. Several were gone when Phoenix looked at the trench early today, on
Sol 24.

Also early today, digging in a different trench, the Robotic Arm connected with a hard
surface that has scientists excited about the prospect of next uncovering an icy layer.

The Phoenix science team spent Thursday analyzing new images and data successfully
returned from the lander earlier in the day.

Studying the initial findings from the new "Snow White 2" trench, located to the right of
"Snow White 1," Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, co-investigator
for the robotic arm, said, "We have dug a trench and uncovered a hard layer at the same
depth as the ice layer in our other trench."

On Sol 24, Phoenix extended the first trench in the middle of a polygon at the
"Wonderland" site. While digging, the Robotic Arm came upon a firm layer, and after
three attempts to dig further, the arm went into a holding position. Such an action is
expected when the Robotic Arm comes upon a hard surface.

Meanwhile, the spacecraft team at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver is
preparing a software patch to send to Phoenix in a few days so scientific data can again
be saved onboard overnight when needed. Because of a large amount a duplicative file-
maintenance data generated by the spacecraft Tuesday, the team is taking the precaution
of not storing science data in Phoenix's flash memory, and instead downlinking it at the
end of every day, until the conditions that produced those duplicative data files are
corrected.

"We now understand what happened, and we can fix it with a software patch," said
Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena. "Our three-month schedule has 30 days of margin for contingencies like this,
and we have used only one contingency day out of 24 sols. The mission is well ahead of
schedule. We are making excellent progress toward full mission success."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith of the University of Arizona with project
management at JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, located in Denver.
International contributions come from the Canadian Space Agency; the University of
Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max
Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The latest Phoenix
images and information are at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix and

http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dnJMKPNpEfKLK0L&s=lvL4JaMRKhKQI9MXKvH&m=cqLILXOzFcJXF

Students Chosen as Cassini Scientists for a Day

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Carolina Martinez 818-354-9382/ Diya Chacko 818-393-5464
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Carolina.Martinez@jpl.nasa.gov
Diya.S.Chacko@jpl.nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-111 June 16, 2008

Students Chosen as Cassini Scientists for a Day

Four students have won the Cassini Scientist for a Day contest, with most choosing Rhea,
Saturn's second-largest moon, as the best place for scientists to study using NASA's Cassini
spacecraft.

Contest participants had to choose one of three target areas for Cassini's camera: Saturn's moon
Enceladus, Rhea, or a section of Saturn's rings that includes the tiny moon Pan. The students had
to write an essay explaining why their chosen snapshot would yield the most scientific rewards,
and the winners were invited to discuss their essays with Cassini scientists via teleconference.

The essays were judged by a panel of Cassini scientists, mission planners, and the education and
outreach team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

This year's winners are located in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Michigan. Their essays were
chosen from 197 essays written by fifth-to-twelfth-grade students across the United States.

Michael Keefe, an eighth-grader from Scituate, Mass., and the winner in the 7th-to-8th-grade
category, chose Rhea.

"A photograph of Rhea would not just give us clues about what forces are at work upon it, but
also what forces have worked on other satellites," Keefe wrote in his essay.

Matt Pleatman and Noah Van Valkenburg, 11th-grade students from Bloomfield Hills, Mich.,
and the winners in the 9th-to-12th-grade division, also chose Rhea for their joint essay, writing
"What better moon to study than the one discovered by Cassini himself?"

Ben Basalik, a 6th-grade student from Collegeville, Penn., and the winner in the 5th-to-6th-grade
category, chose Enceladus, Saturn's geologically active moon. Cassini has discovered
Yellowstone-like geysers spewing from its surface.

"This moon is unusual because it reflects almost 100 percent of the sunlight that strikes it and
although it is cold, it has many features that suggest that it is generating heat," Basalik wrote in
his essay.

The next opportunity to participate in the Cassini Scientist-for-a-Day contest will be in
September. More information is online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/education/scientist/. More
information on the Cassini-Huygens mission is at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency
and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dnJLLNMiF4JJI3K&s=ggLULVMxEcIGKUPDLqG&m=guJPJ5MNIfK3F

NASA Mission Poised to Help Us Gauge Our Rising Seas

Feature
June 16, 2008

NASA Mission Poised to Help Us Gauge Our Rising Seas

In economics, there's a metaphor that says "a rising tide lifts all boats," meaning overall
improvement in the economy benefits everyone. While that's a good thing in economics,
when it comes to our oceans, rising seas are a growing problem for all of us.

Global sea level has risen 20 centimeters (eight inches) in the past 100 years, and the rate
of rise is predicted to accelerate as Earth warms. Melting ice from Greenland and
Antarctica could raise sea level more than one meter (three feet) over the next century.
One obvious threat is inundation, or loss of land to rising water. Other consequences are
more complex, but equally problematic--a warmer ocean can fuel more intense storms;
environmental changes can adversely affect ocean life, such as coral reefs and fisheries;
and alterations in ocean currents can trigger radical changes in Earth's climate.

The best hope for anticipating the future is to understand the past and present. For
global sea level, the first step has been to measure it accurately, a challenge in itself.
Records of global sea level in the past come from averaging tide gauge readings from
many locations. But since the launch of Topex/Poseidon in 1992, followed by Jason-1
in 2001, scientists have had a precise measurement of the height of the global ocean
every 10 days. Now the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2, scheduled to
launch June 20 from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, will continue this critical
task.

"Without this data record, we would have no basis for evaluating change," said the new
mission's project scientist, Lee-Lueng Fu, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. He compares the global sea level record started by Topex/Poseidon to
the continuous measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide begun in the 1950s at the
Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. "The Mauna Loa data proved that carbon dioxide
levels were indeed rising as had been predicted, and they were the basis for our
understanding of the greenhouse effect," Fu said. "The height of the ocean is another
fundamental measurement of our climate. The key is to have rigorous, well-calibrated
data collected over a long period of time."

Satellite measurements of sea-surface height do much more than document and quantify
change. They're a primary tool for understanding how the change is occurring and what
the results for the planet may be.

"Sea level is showing the profound consequences of global warming," said Fu. "More
than 80 percent of the heat from global warming has been absorbed by the ocean with the
rest of it warming the atmosphere, land and melting ice." Warming water and melting ice
are the two major factors that contribute to global sea level rise. Warm water expands and
takes up more space than cold water. Melting glaciers and ice sheets add fresh water to
the ocean, increasing its volume. "To predict what is going to happen in the future, you
have to be able to separate the different contributors," Fu said.

Satellite altimeter instruments that measure the precise height of the ocean surface are
one of three key ocean-observing systems being used in combination to identify the
individual sources of sea-level change. The other two are the gravity-sensing twin
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites and a global array of Argo
floats operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, commonly
known as NOAA.

"The altimeter measures the total sea level, which includes any changes due to heating or
cooling, water coming in or going out and seasonal changes," explained Don Chambers, a
research scientist at the University of Texas's Center for Space Research in Austin.

"The Grace satellites sense changes in mass, the result of water added to the ocean by
melting glaciers or ice sheets, precipitation and rivers, or removed through evaporation."

Subtract the change in sea level due to mass, measured by Grace, from the total sea level
measured by Jason-1--and soon by OSTM/Jason-2--and the answer should reveal just
how much of the change is due to heat, or thermal expansion.

For a closer look at ocean heat, scientists turn to temperature and other measurements
made by the thousands of Argo floats. "The Argo profilers give us a good representation
of the upper 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) of the ocean," Chambers said. "And since
altimeters and Grace measure the total ocean, using what we know about the upper ocean
from Argo gives us an idea about what's going on below in the deep ocean, about which
we have little data."

"We know the basics of sea level rise very well," said JPL oceanographer and climate
scientist Josh Willis. But several critical elements still need to be resolved, he stressed.
"Everything doesn't quite add up yet."

For example, in a recent study, Willis, Chambers and their colleague Steven Nerem of the
Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research in Boulder, compared the amount of ocean
warming during 2003 to 2007 observed by the Argo buoys with the amount of warming
calculated by combining Grace and Jason-1 altimeter data. While the two measurements
closely matched with regard to seasonal ups and downs, they didn't agree at all on the
total amount of warming. In fact, the Argo data showed no warming at all, while the
combined Jason and Grace data did.

This is a mystery to the scientists, which they hope to resolve soon. Willis added there is
no observing system yet for the deep ocean, and it could hold some real surprises.

The record of sea-surface height begun by Topex/Poseidon is now 16 years old. As the
record grows longer with the continued health of Jason-1 and the launch of OSTM/Jason-
2, some uncertainties about sea level rise are much closer to resolution.

"We are getting a better understanding of our measurement systems and just how much
we can trust our numbers," said Fu. "We know that sea level is not rising everywhere at
the same pace, and we are learning more every year about the natural variability in the
ocean over short and long periods. We are learning more about the exchange of heat
between the ocean and the atmosphere, the driving force of our climate."

So will we have disastrous sea-level rise? If so, when?

We don't know yet, said Fu, but he does not rule out finding the answer.

For more information on OSTM/Jason 2, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ostm .

Written by Rosemary Sullivant
Media contact: Alan Buis 818-354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=llL1LaMWLsKXLiI&s=kuK2L7NNIgIOJ6MTLuE&m=gkIPL5NMJjJ8G

MRO HiRISE Images - June 11, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
June 11, 2008

o June 2008 PDS Release

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/pds_release_jun_08.php

o Buttes and Knobs in Cydonia Region

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_005924_2210

o Slope Streaks in Unnamed Crater in Amazonis Region

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_006773_1735

o Layered Rocks in Iani Chaos

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008100_1790

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at

http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by t
he University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.,
built the HiRISE instrument.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=iiKUL7PQKpJYIfK&s=llK4JaNRJhIQL9MXIvG&m=dhLIJ0MIKhL0H

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: June 9-13, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
June 9-13, 2008

o Surface Texture (Released 09 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080609a

o Crater Clouds (Released 10 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080610a

o Slope Streaks (Released 11 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080611a

o Gullies (Released 12 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080612a

o Mix of Textures (Released 13 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080613a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=eoKMJVNALlLSI5I&s=dnIOJMNlH9IALLNrFnE&m=hlKQLcMYLmI9H

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Inspects Delivered Soil Samples

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-109 June 13, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Inspects Delivered Soil Samples

TUCSON, Ariz. -- New observations from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander provide the most
magnified view ever seen of Martian soil, showing particles clumping together even at the smallest
visible scale.

In the past two days, two instruments on the lander deck -- a microscope and a bake-and-sniff
analyzer -- have begun inspecting soil samples delivered by the scoop on Phoenix's Robotic Arm.

"This is the first time since the Viking missions three decades ago that a sample is being studied
inside an instrument on Mars," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of
Arizona, Tucson.

Stickiness of the soil at the Phoenix site has presented challenges for delivering samples, but also
presents scientific opportunities. "Understanding the soil is a major goal of this mission and the soil is
a bit different than we expected," Smith said. "There could be real discoveries to come as we analyze
this soil with our various instruments. We have just the right instruments for the job."

Images from Phoenix's Optical Microscope show nearly 1,000 separate soil particles, down to sizes
smaller than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair. At least four distinct minerals are seen.

"It's been more than 11 years since we had the idea to send a microscope to Mars and I'm absolutely
gobsmacked that we're now looking at the soil of Mars at a resolution that has never been seen
before," said Tom Pike of Imperial College London. He is a Phoenix co-investigator working on the
lander's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer.

The sample includes some larger, black, glassy particles as well as smaller reddish ones. "We may be
looking at a history of the soil," said Pike. "It appears that original particles of volcanic glass have
weathered down to smaller particles with higher concentration of iron."

The fine particles in the soil sample closely resemble particles of airborne dust examined earlier by
the microscope.

Atmospheric dust at the Phoenix site has remained about the same day-to-day so far, said Phoenix co-
investigator and atmospheric scientist Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"We've seen no major dust clouds at the landing site during the mission so far," Renno said. "That's
not a surprise because we landed when dust activity is at a minimum. But we expect to see big dust
storms at the end of the mission. Some of us will be very excited to see some of those dust storms
reach the lander."

Studying dust on Mars helps scientists understand atmospheric dust on Earth, which is important
because dust is a significant factor in global climate change.

"We've learned there is well-mixed dust in the Martian atmosphere, much more mixed than on Earth,
and that's a surprise," Renno said. Rather than particles settling into dust layers, strong turbulence
mixes them uniformly from the surface to a few kilometers above the surface.

Scientists spoke at a news briefing today at the University of Arizona, where new color views of the
spacecraft's surroundings were shown.

"We are taking a high-quality, 360-degree look at all of Mars that we can see from our landing site in
color and stereo," said Mark Lemmon, Surface Stereo Imager lead from Texas A&M University,
College Station.

"These images are important to provide the context of where the lander is on the surface. The
panorama also allows us to look beyond our workspace to see how the polygon structures connect
with the rest of the area. We can identify interesting things beyond our reach and then use the
camera's filters to investigate their properties from afar."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL
and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For
more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.
-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=isJUK7OOIhLNJaJ&s=jtI0L4MJLfKMK3MPJtF&m=9dIAJOMpHbITF

International Solar Mission to End Following Stellar Performance

Media contacts: DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

News Release: 2008-106 June 12, 2008

International Mission Studying Sun to Conclude

PASADENA, Calif. - After more than 17 years of pioneering solar science, a joint NASA and
European Space Agency mission to study the sun will end on or about July 1.

The Ulysses spacecraft has endured for almost four times its expected lifespan. However, the
spacecraft will cease operations because of a decline in power produced by its onboard generators.
Ulysses has forever changed the way scientists view the sun and its effect on the surrounding space.
Mission results and the science legacy it leaves behind were reviewed today at a media briefing at
European Space Agency Headquarters in Paris.

"The main objective of Ulysses was to study, from every angle, the heliosphere, which is the vast
bubble in space carved out by the solar wind," said Ed Smith, Ulysses project scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Over its long life, Ulysses redefined our knowledge of the
heliosphere and went on to answer questions about our solar neighborhood we did not know to ask."

Ulysses ends its career after revealing that the magnetic field emanating from the sun's poles is much
weaker than previously observed. This could mean the upcoming solar maximum period will be less
intense than in recent history.

"Over almost two decades of science observations by Ulysses, we have learned a lot more than we
expected about our star and the way it interacts with the space surrounding it," said Richard
Marsden, Ulysses project scientist and mission manager for the European Space Agency (ESA).
"Solar missions have appeared in recent years, but Ulysses is still unique today. Its special point of
view over the sun's poles never has been covered by any other mission."

The spacecraft and its suite of 10 instruments had to be highly sensitive, yet robust enough to
withstand some of the most extreme conditions in the solar system, including intense radiation while
passing by the giant planet Jupiter's north pole. The encounter occurred while injecting the mission
into its orbit over the sun's poles.

"Ulysses has been a challenging mission since launch," said Ed Massey, Ulysses project manager at
JPL. "Its success required the cooperation and intellect of engineers and scientists from around the
world."

Ulysses was the first mission to survey the environment in space above and below the poles of the
sun in the four dimensions of space and time. It showed the sun's magnetic field is carried into the
solar system in a more complicated manner than previously believed. Particles expelled by the sun
from low latitudes can climb to high latitudes and vice versa, sometimes unexpectedly finding their
way out to the planets. Ulysses also studied dust flowing into our solar system from deep space, and
showed it was 30 times more abundant than astronomers suspected. In addition, the spacecraft
detected helium atoms from deep space and confirmed the universe does not contain enough matter
to eventually halt its expansion.

Ulysses collected and transmitted science data to Earth during its 8.6 billion kilometer journey (5.4
billion miles). As the power supply weakened during the years, engineers devised methods to
conserve energy. The power has dwindled to the point where thruster fuel soon will freeze in the
spacecraft's pipelines.

"When the last bits of data finally arrive, it surely will be tough to say goodbye," said Nigel Angold,
ESA's Ulysses mission operations manager. "But any sadness I might feel will pale in comparison to
the pride of working on such a magnificent mission. Although operations will be ending, scientific
discoveries from Ulysses data will continue for years to come."

Ulysses was launched aboard space shuttle Discovery on Oct. 6, 1990. From Earth orbit, it was
propelled toward Jupiter by solid-fuel rocket motors. Ulysses passed Jupiter on Feb. 8, 1992. The
giant planet's gravity then bent the spacecraft's flight path downward and away from the ecliptic
plane to place the spacecraft in a final orbit around the sun that would take it past our star's north and
south poles.

The spacecraft was provided by ESA. NASA provided the launch vehicle and upper stage boosters.
The U.S. Department of Energy supplied a radioisotope thermoelectric generator to provide power to
the spacecraft. Science instruments were provided by both U.S. and European investigators. The
spacecraft is operated from JPL by a joint NASA/ESA team. More information about the joint
NASA/ESA Ulysses mission is available at http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov or

http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMPEQUG3HF_index_0_ov.html .

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hhJSL1OCJ9KJL7I&s=fpKSJSOtHbKELRNzHpG&m=cqJGKSNDJjIXE

NASA's Phoenix Lander Has an Oven Full of Martian Soil

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-104 June 11, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Lander Has an Oven Full of Martian Soil

TUCSON, Ariz. - NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has filled its first oven with Martian soil.

"We have an oven full," Phoenix co-investigator Bill Boynton of the University of Arizona, Tucson,
said today. "It took 10 seconds to fill the oven. The ground moved."

Boynton leads the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA, for Phoenix.
The instrument has eight separate tiny ovens to bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile
ingredients, such as water.

The lander's Robotic Arm delivered a partial scoopful of clumpy soil from a trench informally called
"Baby Bear" to the number 4 oven on TEGA last Friday, June 6, which was 12 days after landing.

A screen covers each of TEGA's eight ovens. The screen is to prevent larger bits of soil from
clogging the narrow port to each oven so that fine particles fill the oven cavity, which is no wider
than a pencil lead. Each TEGA chute also has a whirligig mechanism that vibrates the screen to help
shake small particles through.

Only a few particles got through when the screen on oven number 4 was vibrated on June 6, 8 and 9.

Boynton said that the oven might have filled because of the cumulative effects of all the vibrating, or
because of changes in the soil's cohesiveness as it sat for days on the top of the screen.

"There's something very unusual about this soil, from a place on Mars we've never been before," said
Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona. "We're interested in learning
what sort of chemical and mineral activity has caused the particles to clump and stick together."

Plans prepared by the Phoenix team for the lander's activities on Thursday, June 12 include sprinkling
Martian soil on the delivery port for the spacecraft's Optical Microscope and taking additional
portions of a high-resolution color panorama of the lander's surroundings.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith with project management at JPL and development partnership at
Lockheed Martin, located in Denver. International contributions come from the Canadian Space
Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus,
Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hrJSLXOyFaKNLaI&s=ggLUKVNxHcLGIUMDJqF&m=gkJNK9NVLfJ1E

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Checking Soil Properties

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-102 June 7, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Checking Soil Properties
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The arm of NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander released a handful of clumpy Martian
soil onto a screened opening of a laboratory instrument on the spacecraft Friday, but the instrument
did not confirm that any of the sample passed through the screen.

Engineers and scientists on the Phoenix team assembled at the University of Arizona are determining
the best approach to get some of that material into the instrument. Meanwhile, the team has
developed commands for the spacecraft to use cameras and the Robotic Arm on Saturday to study
how strongly the soil from the top layer of the surface clings together into clumps.

Images taken Friday show soil resting on the screen over an open sample-delivery door of Phoenix's
Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA, an instrument for identifying some key ingredients.
The screen is designed to let through particles up to one-millimeter (0.04 inch) across while keeping
out larger particles, in order to prevent clogging a funnel pathway to a tiny oven inside. An infrared
beam crossing the pathway checks whether particles are entering the instrument and breaking the
beam.

The researchers have not yet determined why none of the sample appears to have gotten past the
screen, but they have begun proposing possibilities.

"I think it's the cloddiness of the soil and not having enough fine granular material," said Ray
Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, the Phoenix team's science lead for Saturday and
digging czar for the mission.

"In the future, we may prepare the soil by pushing down on the surface with the arm before scooping
up the material to break it up, then sprinkle a smaller amount over the door," he said.

Another strategy under consideration is to use mechanical shakers inside the TEGA instrument
differently than the five minutes of shaking that was part of the sample-receiving process on Friday.
No activities for the instrument are planned for Saturday, while the team refines plans for diagnostic
tests.

Phoenix's planned activities for Saturday include horizontally extending a trench where the lander
dug two practice scoops earlier this week, and taking additional images of a small pile of soil that was
scooped up and dropped onto the surface during the second of those practice digs.

"We are hoping to learn more about the soil's physical properties at this site," Arvidson said. "It may
be more cohesive than what we have seen at earlier Mars landing sites."

The Phoenix mission is led by Peter Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at
JPL and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from
the Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of
Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological
Institute. For more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=iiJTK0OCIgL0JiJ&s=kkI2J7NNKgIOJ6MTJuH&m=lrLZL7MILiL0E

Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: June 2-6, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
June 2-6, 2008

o Slope Streaks (Released 02 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080602a

o Wind Action (Released 03 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080603a

o Cerberus Fossae (Released 04 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080604a

o Tharsis Winds (Released 05 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080605a

o Hecates Tholus (Released 06 June 2008)

http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080606a

All of the THEMIS images are archived here:

http://themis.asu.edu/latest.html

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission
Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University,
Tempe, in co.oration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing.
The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State
University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor
for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission
operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=kkIXK6PKLdKYKnL&s=mmL6JdMVIiKSLcP1JwH&m=njK3KdPKLbI1H

MRO HiRISE Images - June 4, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
June 4, 2008

o North Polar Layered Deposits

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008244_2645

o Awakening Dunes

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008208_2600

o Proposed MSL Landing Site in Holden Crater

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008193_1535

o Wrinkle Ridges in Western Elysium Planitia

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_007896_1890

All of the HiRISE images are archived here:

http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/

Information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is online at

http://www.nasa.gov/mro. The mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, for the NASA
Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Lockheed Martin Space Systems,
of Denver, is the prime contractor and built the spacecraft. HiRISE is operated by t
he University of Arizona. Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., of Boulder, Colo.,
built the HiRISE instrument.

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=eoILJOMmG6IKL4J&s=isKYL1NFJeJKI0MLLsE&m=kqIXK4NyH7KUE

NASA Mars Lander Scoops First Soil Sample for Laboratory Analysis

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-101 June 6, 2008

NASA Mars Lander Scoops First Soil Sample for Laboratory Analysis

TUCSON, Ariz. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander made its first dig into Martian soil for science
studies and is poised to deliver the scoopful to a laboratory instrument on the lander deck.

The instrument will bake and sniff the soil to assess its volatile ingredients, such as water.

Commands were received by Phoenix Friday, June 6, for the spacecraft's Robotic Arm to dump the
sample into an opened door on the instrument called the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or
TEGA.

"It's looks like a good sample for us," said Peter Smith, Phoenix principal investigator at the
University of Arizona, Tucson. "Over the next few days, and it may be as much as a week, the TEGA
instrument will be analyzing this sample."

Phoenix's Robotic Arm collected the sample of clumpy, reddish material from the top 2 to 4
centimeters (0.8 to 1.6 inches) of surface material at a site informally named "Baby Bear" on the
north side of the lander. In the past week, engineers had used the arm to collect two practice scoops
adjacent to Baby Bear and dump those scoopfuls back onto the surface. They have prepared for years
with simulations and versions of the arm on Earth.

"It's like being on a football team and having a pre-season that lasted five years, and now we're
finally playing first game," said Matt Robinson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
Calif. He is the robotic arm flight software lead for the Phoenix team.

The move was calculated to get enough material to be sure to get some delivered into the instrument
without inundating the instrument with unnecessary extra soil. "We're ecstatic that we got a quarter to
a third of a scoopful," Robinson said.

The TEGA instrument will begin analyzing the sample for water and mineral content after it has
analyzed a sample of the Martian atmosphere. Water can be bound to minerals, such as clays or
carbonates, and it takes more heat to drive the water off some minerals than others. This is how the
instrument can identify some minerals in the soil.

"We are particularly interested in minerals that are formed or altered by the action of liquid water in
the soil," Smith said.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL
and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For
more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=dnJJKKNmEhKRK3L&s=ddJOIMPlF9IALLOrHnG&m=hdJRKUMtEeJQF

Highest Resolution View Ever From Mars Comes From NASA Lander

Media contacts: Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

News Release: 2008-099 June 5, 2008

Highest Resolution View Ever From Mars Comes From NASA Lander

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A microscope on NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander has taken images of dust and
sand particles with the greatest resolution ever returned from another planet.

The mission's Optical Microscope observed particles that had fallen onto an exposed surface,
revealing grains as small as one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.

"We have images showing the diversity of mineralogy on Mars at a scale that is unprecedented in
planetary exploration," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. He is
the lead scientist for Phoenix's Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA)
instrument suite.

Meanwhile, Phoenix received commands Thursday to collect its first soil sample to be delivered to a
laboratory instrument on the lander deck. Commands for that same activity sent on Wednesday did
not reach Phoenix because the orbiter intended for relaying the transmission, NASA's Mars Odyssey,
had put itself into a safe standby mode shortly before the commands would have reached Odyssey.

On Wednesday, the lander completed a back-up plan of activities that had been sent previously,
reported JPL's Chris Lewicki, mission manager for Phoenix surface operations on the lander's 11th
Martian day. That plan included weather monitoring and additional imaging for a high-resolution
color panorama of the site.

The Optical Microscope images were taken June 3 of particles that had collected on a sticky surface
exposed during the Phoenix landing and for five days after landing. "It's a first quick look," Hecht
said. "This experiment was partly an insurance policy for something to observe with the microscope
before getting a soil sample delivered by the arm, and partly a characterization of the Optical
Microscope. All the tools are working well."

Some of the particles might have come from inside the spacecraft during the forceful events of
landing, but many match expectations for Martian particles. "We will be using future observations of
soil samples delivered by the Robotic Arm to confirm whether the types of particles in this dustfall
sample are also seen in samples we can be certain are Martian in origin," Hecht said.

The particles show a range of shapes and colors.

"You can see the amount of variety there is in what appears otherwise to be just reddish brown soil,"
said Tom Pike, Phoenix science team member from Imperial College London. He noted that one
translucent particle resembles a grain of salt, but that it is too early to say for sure.

Thursday's commands were relayed to Phoenix via NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The relay
radio on that orbiter has been working well in recent days, after intermittently turning itself off last
week. Phoenix will continue to do relays via Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter until Odyssey returns to
full functioning, and then Phoenix will use both orbiters.

"We are currently bringing the Odyssey spacecraft back into nominal operations, and we will resume
relay service with Odyssey in the next day or two," said JPL's Chad Edwards, chief
telecommunications engineer for the JPL Mars Exploration Program.

"We think Odyssey went into safe mode because of a single event that affected computer memory,"
Edwards said. "Yesterday's safe mode event appears to be very similar to events that have caused
Odyssey to go into safe mode two or three times earlier during its long operation around Mars."
Odyssey has been orbiting Mars since 2001.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL
and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For
more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hhKQI2OGLhIUKbJ&s=mmJ6IdMVIiJSKcN1IwF&m=pvI7KdNVIsJbF

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Ready to Gather Samples

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webster@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

Sara Hammond 520-626-1974
University of Arizona, Tucson
shammond@lpl.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-097 June 4, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander Ready to Gather Samples
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Two practice rounds of digging and dumping the clumpy soil at the Martian arctic
site this week gave scientists and engineers gathered at the University of Arizona confidence to begin
using Phoenix's Robotic Arm to deliver soil samples to instruments on the lander deck.

Those samples will not be collected before Thursday. Following Wednesday's briefing on the
mission, the Phoenix team learned that NASA's Odyssey orbiter, which relays Phoenix data to and
from Earth, had entered a "safe mode," preventing Wednesday's (or sol 10) instructions from
reaching the lander. Instead, Phoenix will complete a sequence of commands that are already stored
on board. That sequence includes instructions for the lander to continue taking images required to
assemble a full-color 360-degree high-resolution panorama.

Odyssey mission managers are doing a check out of the orbiter to determine what triggered the safe
mode. During safe mode, the spacecraft turns off non-essential operations and waits for instructions
from Earth. In the meantime, the Phoenix team has been directed to issue commands to the lander
and receive data through Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). While Phoenix has been primarily
utilizing Odyssey for relay services since MRO's UHF radio unexpectedly powered off during a relay
pass on Sol 2, the radio has been exercised repeatedly over the past week and appears to be operating
well.

The two practice digs have already enticed scientists about some bright material in the soil just
beneath the surface.

"Two scoops into the soil we see there's a white layer becoming visible in the wall of the trench," said
Carol Stoker of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., a member of the Phoenix
science team.

Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith said, "We've had an impassioned discussion of whether
that may be salts or ice or some other material even more exotic."

Concentrations of salts can be indicators of formerly wet conditions. One goal for the Phoenix
mission is to determine whether the ice beneath the surface of far-northern Mars ever thaws during
long-term climate cycles.

The location chosen for the sample is adjacent to the hole dug by the two practice scoops. The team
plans to command the arm to deliver the sample to the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer
(TEGA), after it first receives images to confirm that the scoop holds collected soil ready for
delivery.

"The arm has been performing flawlessly," said Ashitey Trebi-Ollennu of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, senior robotics engineer on the Phoenix Robotic Arm team. The arm made daring, Tai
Chi or Yoga-like moves to position the Robotic Arm Camera to take pictures underneath the lander,
and did its two test digs "magnificently," he said.

Phoenix is the first mission to dig into Mars with a robotic arm since the Viking landers in the 1970s.

"We have only dug to a depth of an inch or two, so we know there are challenges ahead," Trebi-
Ollennu added. "But we are confident that we'll get a good amount of material to deliver to TEGA."

In addition to the bright material seen where the arm collected test samples, a layer of hard, light-
toned substrate has been seen in images taken underneath the lander by the Robotic Arm Camera.

"We think the lander is sitting on a layer of this white material that possibly extends beyond, out into
our work area," said Uwe Keller, Robotic Arm Camera lead scientist from the Max Planck Institute
for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany. Phoenix's telltale, which is part of the
Canadian Space Agency's meteorological package and the highest part of the lander, has proved to be
very sensitive to Martian winds, said Haraldur Gunnlaugsson of the University of Aarhus, Denmark,
which provided the device.

"A storm on Mars is a gentle hand movement on Earth," Gunnlaugsson said. Surface Stereo Imager
images of the telltale show a diurnal pattern to Martian winds. Winds come from the south in the
morning, blow in from the north by mid-day, from the west in the afternoon, and again from the south
by the end of the day.

Knowledge of wind direction and speed is important to prevent possible contamination of samples
during digging.

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona with project management at JPL
and development partnership at Lockheed Martin, Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of Copenhagen
and Aarhus, Denmark; Max Planck Institute, Germany; and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. For
more about Phoenix, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix

and
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=mmK0JeMWIiJ3JsL&s=jjL0K4OJLfIMK3PPLtF&m=jpJUK1NyGaLTE

Spitzer Captures Stellar Coming of Age in Our Galaxy

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Whitney Clavin 818-354-4673/818-648-9734
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.b.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

IMAGE ADVISORY: 2008-095 June 3, 2008

Spitzer Captures Stellar Coming of Age in Our Galaxy

More than 800,000 snapshots from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have been stitched
together to create a new "coming of age" portrait of stars in our inner Milky Way galaxy.

The image, which depicts an area of sky 120 degrees wide by two degrees tall, can be
viewed at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/20080603.html . It was
unveiled today at the 212th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in St. Louis,
Mo.

"This is the highest-resolution, largest, most sensitive infrared picture ever taken of our
Milky Way," said Sean Carey of NASA's Spitzer Science Center at the California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. Carey is lead investigator for one of two teams
responsible for the new picture. "Where previous surveys saw a single source of light, we
now see a cluster of stars. With this data, we can learn how massive stars form, map
galactic spiral arms and make a better estimate of our galaxy's star-formation rate," Carey
explained.

"I suspect that Spitzer's view of the galaxy is the best that we'll have for the foreseeable
future. There is currently no mission planned that has both a wide field of view and the
sensitivity needed to probe the Milky Way at these infrared wavelengths," said Barbara
Whitney of the Space Science Institute, Madison, Wis. Whitney is a member of the
second astronomy team.

Because Earth sits inside our dusty, flat, disk-shaped Milky Way, we have an edge-on
view of our galactic home. We see the Milky Way as a blurry, narrow band of light that
stretches almost completely across the sky. With Spitzer's dust-piercing infrared eyes,
astronomers peered 60,000 light-years away into this fuzzy band, called the galactic
plane, and saw all the way to the other side of the galaxy.

The result is a cosmic tapestry depicting an epic coming-of-age tale for stars. Areas
hosting stellar embryos are identified by swaths of green, which are organic molecules,
called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, illuminated by light from nearby newborn stars.
On Earth, these molecules are found in automobile exhaust and charred barbeque grills,
essentially anywhere carbon molecules are burned incompletely.

The regions where young stars reside are revealed as "bubbles," or curved ridges in the
green clouds. These bubbles are carved by the winds from young starlets blowing away
their natal dust. The starlets appear as yellow and red dots, and the wisps of red that fill
most bubbles are composed of graphite dust particles, similar to very small pieces of
pencil lead.

Blue specks sprinkled throughout the photograph are individual older Milky Way stars.
The bluish-white haze that hovers heavily in the middle two panels is starlight from the
galaxy's older stellar population. A deep, careful examination of the image also shows
the dusty remnants of dying and dead stars as translucent orange spheres.

"With these Spitzer data, we've been able to catalogue more than 100 million stars," said
Edward Churchwell of the University of Wisconsin, at Madison. Churchwell is principal
investigator of one of the teams.

"This picture shows us that our Milky Way galaxy is a crowded and dynamic place. We
have a lot to learn. I've definitely found a lot of things in this map that I didn't expect to
see," said Carey.

This infrared composite incorporates observations from two Spitzer instruments. Data
from the infrared array camera were collected and processed by The Galactic Legacy
Infrared Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire team, led by Churchwell. The Multiband
Imaging Photometer for Spitzer Galactic Plane Survey Legacy team, led by Carey,
processed observations from Spitzer's multiband imaging photometer. Blue represents
3.6-micron light, green shows light of 8 microns and red is 24-micron light.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space
Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science
operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of
Technology, also in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about Spitzer, visit http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/spitzer and

http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer.

-end-

To remove yourself from all mailings from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, please go to http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hrKPI2OMLlIPK7J&s=iiLYI1MFKeKKJ0MLLsF&m=ieLSJSPuHlIXF