NASA Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow, Soil Data Suggest Liquid Past

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: 2008-183 Sept. 29, 2008

NASA Mars Lander Sees Falling Snow, Soil Data Suggest Liquid Past

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian
clouds. Spacecraft soil experiments also have provided evidence of past interaction between
minerals and liquid water, processes that occur on Earth.

A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on
Mars has detected snow from clouds about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) above the spacecraft's landing
site. Data show the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground.

"Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of York University,
Toronto, lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be
looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground."

Phoenix experiments also yielded clues pointing to calcium carbonate, the main composition of
chalk, and particles that could be clay. Most carbonates and clays on Earth form only in the presence
of liquid water.

"We are still collecting data and have lots of analysis ahead, but we are making good progress on the
big questions we set out for ourselves," said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the
University of Arizona, Tucson.

Since landing on May 25, Phoenix already has confirmed that a hard subsurface layer at its far-
northern site contains water-ice. Determining whether that ice ever thaws would help answer
whether the environment there has been favorable for life, a key aim of the mission.

The evidence for calcium carbonate in soil samples from trenches dug by the Phoenix robotic arm
comes from two laboratory instruments called the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer, or TEGA,
and the wet chemistry laboratory of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or
MECA.

"We have found carbonate," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for
the TEGA. "This points toward episodes of interaction with water in the past."

The TEGA evidence for calcium carbonate came from a high-temperature release of carbon dioxide
from soil samples. The temperature of the release matches a temperature known to decompose
calcium carbonate and release carbon dioxide gas, which was identified by the instrument's mass
spectrometer.

The MECA evidence came from a buffering effect characteristic of calcium carbonate assessed in
wet chemistry analysis of the soil. The measured concentration of calcium was exactly what would
be expected for a solution buffered by calcium carbonate.

Both TEGA, and the microscopy part of MECA, have turned up hints of a clay-like substance. "We
are seeing smooth-surfaced, platy particles with the atomic-force microscope, not inconsistent with
the appearance of clay particles," said Michael Hecht, MECA lead scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The Phoenix mission, originally planned for three months on Mars, now is in its fifth month.
However, it faces a decline in solar energy that is expected to curtail and then end the lander's
activities before the end of the year. Before power ceases, the Phoenix team will attempt to activate a
microphone on the lander to possibly capture sounds on Mars.

"For nearly three months after landing, the sun never went below the horizon at our landing site,"
said Barry Goldstein, JPL Phoenix project manager. "Now it is gone for more than four hours each
night, and the output from our solar panels is dropping each week. Before the end of October, there
won't be enough energy to keep using the robotic arm."

The Phoenix mission is led by Smith at the University of Arizona. Project management is the
responsibility of JPL with development partnership by Lockheed Martin 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.

More information about Phoenix is at http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix .

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 22-26, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
September 22-26, 2008

o Yardangs (Released 22 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080922a

o Lunae Planum (Released 23 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080923a

o Bright Dunes (Released 24 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080924a

o Crater Ejecta (Released 25 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080925a

o Marte Vallis (Released 26 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080926a

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.

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NASA Stardust Capsule to go on Display at Smithsonian

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

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

William P. Jeffs 281-483-5111
Johnson Space Center, Houston
william.p.jeffs@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-181 Sept. 25, 2008

NASA Stardust Capsule to go on Display at Smithsonian

PASADENA, Calif. -- Having returned the world's first particles from a comet, NASA's Stardust
sample return capsule will join the collection of flight icons in the Smithsonian's National Air and
Space Museum in Washington. The capsule will go on public display in the museum's Milestones of
Flight Gallery on Oct. 1, the 50th anniversary of NASA.

Stardust, comprising a spacecraft and capsule, completed a seven-year, 4.8-billion-kilometer (3-
billion-mile) journey in 2006. A tennis racket-like, aerogel-lined collector was extended to capture
particles as the spacecraft flew within 241 kilometers (150 miles) of comet Wild 2 in January 2004.
Carrying the collected particles, the capsule returned to Earth Jan. 15, 2006, landing in Utah. Two
days later, it was transported to a curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

"Very few people get to build something, launch it into space, see it be successful and then get it
back in their hands," said Karen McNamara, Johnson recovery lead for the Stardust mission. "To be
able to share this with the public is phenomenal."

The capsule joins the Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the
Apollo 11 command module Columbia that carried the first men to walk on the moon.

"The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum is delighted to add to the National
Collection the Stardust return capsule," said Roger Launius, senior curator of the Division of Space
History at the museum. "As one of the premier space science missions of the recent past, Stardust
will take its place alongside other iconic objects from the history of air and spaceflight. I look
forward to helping to impart more knowledge to our visitors about the makeup of the universe using
this significant and pathbreaking object."

Hardware provided to the Smithsonian includes actual flight components. Elements relevant to the
science goals of the mission remain with NASA.

After successfully completing its mission, Stardust will use its flight-proven hardware to perform a
new, previously unplanned investigation. The mission, called Stardust-NExT, will revisit comet
9P/Tempel 1. This investigation will provide the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus
produced after a close approach to the sun. It will also mark the first time a comet has ever been
revisited.

"Usually, when a piece of your spacecraft goes into the Smithsonian, that means the mission's over,"
said Stardust-NExT project manager Rick Grammier, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. "But the Stardust spacecraft is still doing the job for NASA and in February 2011, it
will fly within 193 kilometers (120 miles) of the comet."

Stardust is a low-cost, Discovery Program mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. JPL
manages the project. Joseph Veverka of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., is the mission's principal
investigator. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver manages mission operations.

For information about the Stardust mission on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/stardust .

Images of the Stardust capsule being prepared for shipment can be found at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/stardust.html .

NASA Television will air video file material to illustrate this story. For NASA TV downlink,
schedule and streaming video information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv .

JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

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NASA Orbiter Reveals Rock Fracture Plumbing on Mars

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

Lori Stiles 520-626-4402
University of Arizona, Tucson
lstiles@u.arizona.edu

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-180 Sept. 25, 2008

NASA Orbiter Reveals Rock Fracture Plumbing on Mars

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has revealed hundreds of small fractures
exposed on the Martian surface that billions of years ago directed flows of water through underground
Martian sandstone.

Researchers used images from the spacecraft's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or
HiRISE, camera. Images of layered rock deposits at equatorial Martian sites show the clusters of
fractures to be a type called deformation bands, caused by stresses below the surface in granular or
porous bedrock.

"Groundwater often flows along fractures such as these, and knowing that these are deformation bands
helps us understand how the underground plumbing may have worked within these layered deposits,"
said Chris Okubo of the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Visible effects of water on the color and texture of rock along the fractures provide evidence that
groundwater flowed extensively along the fractures.

"These structures are important sites for future exploration and investigations into the geological
history of water and water-related processes on Mars," Okubo and co-authors state in a report
published online this month in the Geological Society of America Bulletin.

Deformation band clusters in Utah sandstones, as on Mars, are a few meters or yards wide and up to a
few kilometers or miles long. They form from either compression or stretching of underground layers,
and can be precursors to faults. The ones visible at the surface have become exposed as overlying
layers erode away. Deformation bands and faults can strongly influence the movement of groundwater
on Earth and appear to have been similarly important on Mars, according to this study.

"This study provides a picture of not just surface water erosion, but true groundwater effects widely
distributed over the planet," said Suzanne Smrekar, deputy project scientist for the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Groundwater
movement has important implications for how the temperature and chemistry of the crust have changed
over time, which in turn affects the potential for habitats for past life."

The recent study focuses on layered deposits in Mars' Capen crater, approximately 70 kilometers (43
miles) in diameter and 7 degrees north of the equator. This formerly unnamed crater became notable
due to this discovery of deformation bands within it and was recently assigned a formal name. The
crater was named for the late Charles Capen, who studied Mars and other objects as an astronomer at
JPL's Table Mountain Observatory in Southern California and at Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, Ariz.

The HiRISE camera is one of six science instruments on the orbiter. It can reveal smaller details on the
surface than any previous camera to orbit Mars. The orbiter reached Mars in March 2006 and has
returned more data than all other current and past missions to Mars combined.

The mission is managed by JPL for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. JPL is managed for NASA
by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver
built the spacecraft. The University of Arizona operates the HiRISE camera, built by Ball Aerospace
and Technology Corp. of Boulder, Colo.

Images of the deformation band clusters and additional information about the mission are on the
Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro .

For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov .

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MRO HiRISE Images - September 24, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
September 24, 2008

o Clusters of Mounds at Acidalia Planitia
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009485_2185

o Outcrops in Aurorae Chaos
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009498_1730

o Tube-Fed Lava Flow Field
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009501_1755

o Dark Spot Near Olmpus Mons Volcano
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009502_1980

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.

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Southern Californians Get a Cool Summer, but a Warm Future

Feature September 23, 2008

Southern Californians Get a Cool Summer, but a Warm Future

Summer 2008 in Southern California goes down in the books as cooler than normal. The
thermometer in downtown Los Angeles topped 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees
Celsius) just once in July, August and the first two-thirds of September. But don't expect
this summer's respite from the usual blistering heat to continue in the years to come,
cautions a group of NASA and university scientists: The long-term forecast calls for
increased numbers of scorching days and longer, more frequent heat waves.

One hundred years of daily temperature data in Los Angeles were analyzed by scientists
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; the University of California,
Berkeley; and California State University, Los Angeles. They found that the number of
extreme heat days (above 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32.2 degrees Celsius in downtown
Los Angeles) has increased sharply over the past century. A century ago, the region
averaged about two such days a year; today the average is more than 25. In addition, the
duration of heat waves (two or more extreme heat days in a row) has also soared, from
two-day events a century ago to one- to two-week events today.

"We found an astonishing trend -- a dramatic increase in the number of heat waves per
year," says Arbi Tamrazian, lead author of the study, and a senior at the University of
California, Berkeley.

Tamrazian and his colleagues analyzed data from Pierce College in Woodland Hills,
Calif., and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in downtown Los Angeles.
They tracked the number of extreme heat days and heat waves from 1906 to 2006. The
team found that the average annual maximum daytime temperature in Los Angeles has
risen by five degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 degrees Celsius) over the past century, and the
minimum nighttime temperature has increased nearly as much. They also found that heat
waves lasting six or more days have been occurring regularly since the 1970s. More
recently, two-week heat waves have become more common.

The team forecasts that in coming decades, we can expect 10- to 14-day heat waves to
become the norm. And because these will be hotter heat waves, they will be more
threatening to public health.

"The bottom line is that we're definitely going to be living in a warmer Southern
California," says study co-author Bill Patzert, a JPL climatologist and oceanographer.
"Summers as we now know them are likely to begin in May and continue into the fall.
What we call 'scorcher' days today will be normal tomorrow. Our snow pack will be less,
our fire seasons will be longer, and unhealthy air alerts will be a summer staple.

"We'll still get the occasional cool year like this year," Patzert continued, "but the trend
is still towards more extreme heat days and longer heat waves."

So what's behind this long-term warming trend? Patzert says global warming due to
increasing greenhouse gases is responsible for some of the overall heating observed in
Los Angeles and the rest of California. Most of the increase in heat days and length of
heat waves, however, is due to a phenomenon called the "urban heat island effect."

Heat island-induced heat waves are a growing concern for urban and suburban dwellers
worldwide. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, studies around the
world have shown that this effect makes urban areas from two to 10 degrees Fahrenheit
(one to six degrees Celsius) warmer than their surrounding rural areas. Patzert says this
effect is steadily warming Southern California, though more modestly than some larger
urban areas around the world.

"Dramatic urbanization has resulted in an extreme makeover for Southern California,
with more homes, lawns, shopping centers, traffic, freeways and agriculture, all
absorbing and retaining solar radiation, making our megalopolis warmer," Patzert said.

These trends may capture the attention of utility companies and public health officials.
"We'll be using more power and water to stay cool," says study co-author Steve LaDochy
of California State University, Los Angeles. "Extreme heat, both day and night, will
become more and more dangerous, even deadly."

The findings are published in the July 2008 issue of the Yearbook of the Association of
Pacific Coast Geographers. JPL oceanographer and climate scientist Josh Willis was also
a co-author on the research.

-end-

Alan Buis
818-354-0474

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NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Baked and Ready for More Tests

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

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

Michael Mewhinney 650-604-3937
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Michael.S.Mewhinney@nasa.gov

Roz Brown 303-533-6059
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.
rbrown@ball.com

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-179 Sept. 23, 2008

NASA's Kepler Spacecraft Baked and Ready for More Tests

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler mission, scheduled to launch in 2009, has survived an
extreme temperature test.

The thermal vacuum test is part of a series of environmental tests the spacecraft will
undergo before it blasts into space aboard a Delta II rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Fla.

"Kepler functioned extremely well at the intense temperatures it will encounter in space,"
said James Fanson, Kepler project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif.

The test, which was performed at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder,
Colo., simulates the vacuum of space, and the extreme temperatures Kepler will face
once launched. The spacecraft is tucked into a vacuum chamber and surrounded by a cold
shroud to mimic the deep chill of space. One side of the spacecraft -- the side with solar
panels -- is then baked as if it were being heated by the sun.

The goal is to make sure that the spacecraft and its detectors operate properly in the
space-like environment. An electromagnetic compatibility test, to ensure Kepler's
electronics are sound, will begin soon.

Kepler will monitor 100,000 stars, searching for signs of planets -- including ones as
small as or smaller than Earth. To date, no Earth-sized planet has been discovered.

"The results of these tests are now being used to prepare for the science operations that
will start after the spacecraft launches and undergoes in-orbit checkout," said Bill
Borucki of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., the science principal
investigator for the Kepler Mission.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. In addition to being the home organization of the
science principal investigator, NASA Ames Research Center is responsible for the
ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. Kepler
mission development is managed by JPL. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is
responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations.

More information about the Kepler mission is at http://kepler.nasa.gov/ . More
information about extrasolar planets and NASA's planet-finding program is at
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

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Ulysses Reveals Global Solar Wind Plasma Output at 50-Year Low

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

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: 2008-178 September 23, 2008

Ulysses Reveals Global Solar Wind Plasma Output at 50-Year Low

PASADENA, Calif. -- Data from the Ulysses spacecraft, a joint NASA-European Space
Agency mission, show the sun has reduced its output of solar wind to the lowest levels
since accurate readings became available. The sun's current state could reduce the natural
shielding that envelops our solar system.

"The sun's million mile-per-hour solar wind inflates a protective bubble, or heliosphere,
around the solar system. It influences how things work here on Earth and even out at the
boundary of our solar system where it meets the galaxy," said Dave McComas, Ulysses'
solar wind instrument principal investigator and senior executive director at the
Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. "Ulysses data indicate the solar
wind's global pressure is the lowest we have seen since the beginning of the space age."

The sun's solar wind plasma is a stream of charged particles ejected from the sun's upper
atmosphere. The solar wind interacts with every planet in our solar system. It also defines
the border between our solar system and interstellar space.

This border, called the heliopause, is a bubble-shaped boundary surrounding our solar
system where the solar wind's strength is no longer great enough to push back the wind of
other stars. The region around the heliopause also acts as a shield for our solar system,
warding off a significant portion of the cosmic rays outside the galaxy.

"Galactic cosmic rays carry with them radiation from other parts of our galaxy," said Ed
Smith, NASA's Ulysses project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif. "With the solar wind at an all-time low, there is an excellent chance the heliosphere
will diminish in size and strength. If that occurs, more galactic cosmic rays will make it
into the inner part of our solar system."

Galactic cosmic rays are of great interest to NASA. Cosmic rays are linked to
engineering decisions for unmanned interplanetary spacecraft and exposure limits for
astronauts traveling beyond low-Earth orbit.

In 2007, Ulysses made its third rapid scan of the solar wind and magnetic field from the
sun's south to north pole. When the results were compared with observations from the
previous solar cycle, the strength of the solar wind pressure and the magnetic field
embedded in the solar wind were found to have decreased by 20 percent. The field
strength near the spacecraft has decreased by 36 percent.

"The sun cycles between periods of great activity and lesser activity," Smith said. "Right
now, we are in a period of minimal activity that has stretched on longer than anyone
anticipated."

Ulysses was the first mission to survey the space environment over the sun's poles. Data
Ulysses has returned have forever changed the way scientists view our star and its effects.
The venerable spacecraft has lasted more than 17 years, or almost four times its expected
mission lifetime. The Ulysses solar wind findings were published in a recent
edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

The Ulysses spacecraft was carried into Earth orbit aboard space shuttle Discovery on
Oct. 6, 1990. From Earth orbit it was propelled toward Jupiter, passing the planet on Feb.
8, 1992. Jupiter's immense gravity bent the spacecraft's flight path downward and away
from the plane of the planets' orbits. This placed Ulysses into a final orbit around the
sun that would take it over its north and south poles.

The Ulysses spacecraft was provided by ESA, having been built by Astrium GmbH
(formerly Dornier Systems) of Friedrichshafen, Germany. NASA provided the launch
vehicle and the upper stage boosters. The U.S. Department of Energy supplied a
radioisotope thermoelectric generator to power the spacecraft. Science instruments were
provided by U.S. and European investigators. The spacecraft is operated from JPL by a
joint NASA-ESA team.

More information about the Ulysses mission is available at http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov .

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NASA's Phoenix Lander Might Peek Under a Rock

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: 2008-177 September 22, 2008

NASA's Phoenix Lander Might Peek Under a Rock

TUCSON, Ariz. -- If the robotic arm on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander can nudge a rock
aside today, scientists on the Phoenix team would like to see what's underneath.

Engineers who develop commands for the robotic arm have prepared a plan to try
displacing a rock on the north side of the lander. This rock, roughly the size and shape of
a VHS videotape, is informally named "Headless."

"We don't know whether we can do this until we try," said Ashitey Trebi Ollennu, a
robotics engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The idea is to
move the rock with minimum disturbance to the surface beneath it. You have to get under
it enough to lift it as you push it and it doesn't just slip off the scoop."

The lander receives commands for the whole day in the morning, so there's no way to
adjust in mid-move if the rock starts slipping. Phoenix took stereo-pair images of
Headless to provide a detailed three-dimensional map of it for planning the arm's
motions. On Saturday, Sept. 20, the arm enlarged a trench close to Headless. Commands
sent to Phoenix Sunday evening, Sept. 21, included a sequence of arm motions for today,
intended to slide the rock into the trench.

Moving rocks is not among the many tasks Phoenix's robotic arm was designed to do. If
the technique works, the move would expose enough area for digging into the soil that
had been beneath Headless.

"The appeal of studying what's underneath is so strong we have to give this a try," said
Michael Mellon, a Phoenix science team member at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

The scientific motive is related to a hard, icy layer found beneath the surface in trenches
that the robotic arm has dug near the lander. Excavating down to that hard layer
underneath a rock might provide clues about processes affecting the ice.

"The rocks are darker than the material around them, and they hold heat," Mellon said.
"In theory, the ice table should deflect downward under each rock. If we checked and saw
this deflection, that would be evidence the ice is probably in equilibrium with the water
vapor in the atmosphere."

An alternative possibility, if the icy layer were found closer to the surface under a rock,
could by the rock collecting moisture from the atmosphere, with the moisture becoming
part of the icy layer.

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

For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

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NASA's Mars Rover to Head Toward Bigger Crater

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
Headquarters, Washington
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov

NEWS RELEASE: 2008-176 Sept. 22, 2008

NASA's Mars Rover to Head Toward Bigger Crater

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity is setting its sights on a crater more than 20
times larger than its home for the past two years.

To reach the crater the rover team calls Endeavour, Opportunity would need to drive approximately
12 kilometers (7 miles) to the southeast, matching the total distance it has traveled since landing on
Mars in early 2004. The rover climbed out of Victoria Crater earlier this month.

"We may not get there, but it is scientifically the right direction to go anyway," said Steve Squyres of
Cornell University, principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin
rover, Spirit. "This crater is staggeringly large compared to anything we've seen before."

Getting there would yield a look inside a bowl 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) across. Scientists expect to
see a much deeper stack of rock layers than those examined by Opportunity in Victoria Crater.

"I would love to see that view from the rim," Squyres said. "But even if we never get there, as we
move southward we expect to be getting to younger and younger layers of rock on the surface. Also,
there are large craters to the south that we think are sources of cobbles that we want to examine out
on the plain. Some of the cobbles are samples of layers deeper than Opportunity will ever see, and we
expect to find more cobbles as we head toward the south."

Opportunity will have to pick up the pace to get there. The rover team estimates Opportunity may be
able to travel about 110 yards each day it is driven toward the Endeavour crater. Even at that pace,
the journey could take two years.

"This is a bolder, more aggressive objective than we have had before," said John Callas, the project
manager for both Mars rovers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "It's
tremendously exciting. It's new science. It's the next great challenge for these robotic explorers."

Opportunity, like Spirit, is well past its expected lifetime on Mars, and might not keep working long
enough to reach the crater. However, two new resources not available during the 4-mile drive toward
Victoria Crater in 2005 and 2006 are expected to aid in this new trek.

One is imaging from orbit of details smaller than the rover itself, using the High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived at the
Red Planet in 2006.

"HiRISE allows us to identify drive paths and potential hazards on the scale of the rover along the
route," Callas said. "This is a great example of how different parts of NASA's Mars Exploration
Program reinforce each other."

Other advantages come from a new version of flight software uplinked to Opportunity and Spirit in
2006, boosting their ability to autonomously choose routes and avoid hazards such as sand dunes.

During its first year on Mars, Opportunity found geological evidence that the area where it landed
had surface and underground water in the distant past. The rover's explorations since have added
information about how that environment changed over time. Finding rock layers above or below the
layers already examined adds windows into later or earlier periods of time.

NASA's JPL built and manage the rovers and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate, Washington.

For images and information about Spirit and Opportunity, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

-end-

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 15-19, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
September 15-19, 2008

o Lava Channel (Released 15 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080915a

o Buvinda Vallis (Released 16 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080916a

o Tempe Terra (Released 17 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080917a

o Iani Chaos (Released 18 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080918a

o Ascraeus Mons (Released 19 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080919a

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.

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Water Hit With Young Star's Best Shot

Feature

September 18, 2008

Water Hit With Young Star's Best Shot

Water is being blasted to pieces by a young star's laser-like jets, according to new
observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

The discovery provides a better understanding of how water -- an essential ingredient for
life as we know it -- is processed in emerging solar systems.

"This is a truly unique observation that will provide important information about the
chemistry occurring in planet-forming regions, and may give us insights into the
chemical reactions that made water and even life possible in our own solar system," said
Achim Tappe, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.

A young star forms out of a thick, rotating cloud of gas and dust. Like the two ends of a
spinning top, powerful jets of gas emerge from the top and bottom of the dusty cloud. As
the cloud shrinks more and more under its own gravity, its star eventually ignites and the
remaining dust and gas flatten into a pancake-like disk, from which planets will later
form. By the time the star ignites and stops accumulating material from its cloud, the jets
will have died out.

Tappe and his colleagues used Spitzer's infrared eyes to cut through the dust surrounding
a nascent star, called HH 211-mm, and get a better look at its jets. These particular jets
are exceptionally young at 1,000 years old, and they are some of the most collimated, or
focused, known. An instrument on Spitzer called a spectrometer analyzed light from one
of the jets, revealing information about its molecules.

To the astronomers' surprise, Spitzer picked up the signature of rapidly spinning
fragments of water molecules, called hydroxyl, or OH. In fact, the hydroxyl molecules
have absorbed so much energy (through a process called excitation) that they are rotating
around with energies equivalent to 28,000 Kelvin (27,700 degrees Celsius). This far
exceeds normal expectations for gas streaming out of a stellar jet. Water, which is
abbreviated H2O, is made up of two oxygen atoms and one hydrogen; hydroxyl, or OH,
contains one oxygen and one hydrogen atom.

The results reveal that the jet is ramming its head into a wall of material, vaporizing ice
right off the dust grains it normally coats. The jet is hitting the material so fast and hard
that a shock wave is also being produced.

"The shock from colliding atoms and molecules generates ultraviolet radiation, which
will break up water molecules, leaving extremely hot hydroxyl molecules," said Tappe.

Tappe said this same process of ice being vaporized off dust occurs in our own solar
system, when the sun vaporizes ice in approaching comets. In addition, the water that
now coats our world is thought to have come from icy comets that vaporized as they
rained down on a young Earth.

Tappe is the lead author of a paper on this topic, which was published in a recent issue of
the Astrophysical Journal. Co-authors on the paper include Charlie Lada, and August
Muench, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and J. H. Black, of
the Chalmers University of Technology, in Onsala, Sweden.

-end-

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 8-12, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
September 8-12, 2008

o Channels (Released 08 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080908a

o Pasteur Crater (Released 09 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080909a

o Lyot Dunes (Released 10 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080910a

o Odd Craters (Released 11 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080911a

o Polar Dunes (Released 12 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080912a

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.

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MRO HiRISE Images - September 10, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
September 10, 2008

o September 2008 PDS Release
Hundreds of new images covering the orbit ranges
8200-9299 of our primary mission.
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/releases/sept_08.php

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.

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MRO HiRISE Images - September 3, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
September 3, 2008

o Evolution of North Polar Dunes
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009233_2535

o Dust Devils Make Their Marks in Gusev Crater
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009319_1650

o Ius Chasma's Floor
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009368_1720

o Defrosted Margin of the North Polar Erg
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009396_2590

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.

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: September 1-5, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
September 1-5, 2008

o Tempe Terra (Released 01 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080901a

o Dark Slope Streaks (Released 02 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080902a

o Olympus Mons (Released 03 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080903a

o Dunes (Released 04 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080904a

o Clanis Vallis (Released 05 September 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080905a

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.

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Cassini Images Ring Arcs Among Saturn's Moons

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

Preston Dyches 720-974-5859
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
media@ciclops.org

Julia Maddock +44 (0)1793 442 094
Science and Technology Facilities Council
julia.maddock@stfc.ac.uk

News release: 2008-172 Sept. 5, 2008

Cassini Images Ring Arcs Among Saturn's Moons

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected a faint, partial ring
orbiting with one small moon of Saturn, and has confirmed the presence of another
partial ring orbiting with a second moon. This is further evidence that most of the
planet's small, inner moons orbit within partial or complete rings.

Recent Cassini images show material, called ring arcs, extending ahead of and behind
the small moons Anthe and Methone in their orbits. The new findings indicate that the
gravitational influence of nearby moons on ring particles might be the deciding factor in
whether an arc or complete ring is formed.

Both Anthe and Methone orbit Saturn in locations, called resonances, where the gravity
of the nearby larger moon Mimas disturbs their orbits. Gravitational resonances are also
responsible for many of the structures in Saturn's magnificent rings. Mimas provides a
regular gravitational tug on each moon, which causes the moons to skip forward and
backward within an arc-shaped region along their orbital paths, according to Nick
Cooper, a Cassini imaging team associate from Queen Mary, University of London.
"When we realized that the Anthe and Methone ring arcs were very similar in
appearance to the region in which the moons swing back and forth in their orbits due to
their resonance with Mimas, we knew we had a possible cause-and-effect relationship,"
Cooper said.

Scientists believe the faint ring arcs from Anthe and Methone likely consist of material
knocked off these small moons by micrometeoroid impacts. This material does not
spread all the way around Saturn to form a complete ring, because of the gravitational
resonance with Mimas. That interaction confines the material to a narrow region along
the orbits of the moons.

This is the first detection of an arc of material near Anthe. The Methone arc was
previously detected by Cassini's Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument, and the new
images confirm its presence. Previous Cassini images show faint rings connected with
other small moons either embedded within or near the outskirts of Saturn's main
ring system, such as Pan, Janus, Epimetheus and Pallene. Cassini had also previously
observed an arc in the G ring, one of Saturn's faint, major rings.

"This is probably the same mechanism responsible for producing the arc in the G ring,"
said Matthew Hedman, a Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell University in Ithaca,
N.Y. Hedman and his Cassini imaging team colleagues previously determined that the
G-ring arc is maintained by a gravitational resonance with Mimas, much like the
new, small moon arcs. "Indeed, the Anthe arc may be similar to the debris we see in the
G-ring arc, where the largest particles are clearly visible. One might even speculate that
if Anthe were shattered, its debris might form a structure much like the G ring," Hedman
said.

Additional analysis by scientists indicates that, while the gravitational influence of Mimas
keeps the Anthe, Methone and G-ring arcs in place, the material that orbits with the
moons Pallene, Janus and Epimetheus is not subject to such powerful resonant forces
and is free to spread out around the planet, forming complete rings without arcs.

The intricate relationships between these ring arcs and the moons are just one of many
such mechanisms that exist in the Saturn system. Cassini Imaging Team Member and
Professor Carl Murray, also from Queen Mary, University of London, said, "There are
many examples in the
Saturn system of moons creating structures in the rings and disturbing the orbits of
other moons. Understanding these interactions and learning about their origins can help
us to make sense of what we are seeing in the Cassini images."

Images of Anthe and Methone with their ring arcs are available
at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org.

The Cassini-Huygens 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 Cassini-Huygens mission
for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its
two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging
team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

-end-

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Spiky Probe on NASA Mars Lander Raises Vapor Quandary

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: 2008-171 September 4, 2008

Spiky Probe on NASA Mars Lander Raises Vapor Quandary

TUCSON, Ariz. -- A fork-like conductivity probe has sensed humidity rising and falling
beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, but when stuck into the ground, its measurements
so far indicate soil that is thoroughly and perplexingly dry.

"If you have water vapor in the air, every surface exposed to that air will have water
molecules adhere to it that are somewhat mobile, even at temperatures well below
freezing," said Aaron Zent of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., lead
scientist for Phoenix's thermal and electroconductivity probe.

In below-freezing permafrost terrains on Earth, that thin layer of unfrozen water
molecules on soil particles can grow thick enough to support microbial life. One goal for
building the conductivity probe and sending it to Mars has been to see whether the
permafrost terrain of the Martian arctic has detectable thin films of unfrozen water on soil
particles. By gauging how electricity moves through the soil from one prong to another,
the probe can detect films of water barely more than one molecule thick.

"Phoenix has other tools to find clues about whether water ice at the site has melted in the
past, such as identifying minerals in the soil and observing soil particles with
microscopes. The conductivity probe is our main tool for checking for present-day soil
moisture," said Phoenix Project Scientist Leslie Tamppari of NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Preliminary results from the latest insertion of the probe's four needles into the ground,
on Wednesday and Thursday, match results from the three similar insertions in the three
months since landing.

"All the measurements we've made so far are consistent with extremely dry soil," Zent
said. "There are no indications of thin films of moisture, and this is puzzling."

Three other sets of observations by Phoenix, in addition to the terrestrial permafrost
analogy, give reasons for expecting to find thin-film moisture in the soil.

One is the conductivity probe's own measurements of relative humidity when the probe is
held up in the air. "The relative humidity transitions from near zero to near 100 percent
with every day-night cycle, which suggests there's a lot of moisture moving in and out of
the soil," Zent said.

Another is Phoenix's confirmation of a hard layer containing water-ice about 5
centimeters (2 inches) or so beneath the surface.

Also, handling the site's soil with the scoop on Phoenix's robotic arm and observing the
disturbed soil show that it has clumping cohesiveness when first scooped up and that this
cohesiveness decreases after the scooped soil sits exposed to air for a day or two. One
possible explanation for those observations could be thin-film moisture in the ground.

The Phoenix team is laying plans for a variation on the experiment of inserting the
conductivity probe into the soil. The four successful insertions so far have all been into an
undisturbed soil surface. The planned variation is to scoop away some soil first, so the
inserted needles will reach closer to the subsurface ice layer.

"There should be some amount of unfrozen water attached to the surface of soil particles
above the ice," Zent said. "It may be too little to detect, but we haven't finished looking
yet."

The thermal and electroconductivity probe, built by Decagon Devices Inc., Pullman,
Wash., is mounted on Phoenix's robotic arm. The probe is part of the lander's
Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity instrument suite.

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 development
partnership at Lockheed Martin in Denver. International contributions come from the
Canadian Space Agency; the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland; the universities of
Copenhagen and Aarhus in Denmark; the Max Planck Institute in Germany; and the
Finnish Meteorological Institute.

For more about Phoenix, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix or
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu.

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NASA's Carl Sagan Fellows to Study Extraterrestrial Worlds

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
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
whitney.clavin@jpl.nasa.gov

J.D. Harrington 202-358-2769
Headquarters, Washington
jharring@nasa.gov

News release: 2008-170 Sept. 3, 2008

NASA's Carl Sagan Fellows to Study Extraterrestrial Worlds

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA announced Wednesday the new Carl Sagan Postdoctoral
Fellowships in Exoplanet Exploration, created to inspire the next generation
of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life,
around other stars.

Planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, are being discovered at
a staggering pace, with more than 300 currently known. Decades ago, long before
any exoplanets had been found, the late Carl Sagan imagined such worlds, and
pioneered the scientific pursuit of life that might exist on them. Sagan was
an astronomer and a highly successful science communicator.

NASA's new Sagan fellowships will allow talented young scientists to tread the
path laid out by Sagan. The program will award stipends of approximately
$60,000 per year, for a period of up to three years, to selected postdoctoral
scientists. Topics can range from techniques for detecting the glow of a dim
planet in the blinding glare of its host star, to searching for the crucial
ingredients of life in other planetary systems.

"We are investing in our nation's best and brightest in an emerging field
that is tremendously inspiring to the public," said Jon Morse, Astrophysics
Division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The Sagan Fellowship will join NASA's new Einstein Postdoctoral Fellowship
in Physics of the Cosmos and the Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cosmic
Origins. All three fellowships represent a new theme-based approach, in which
fellows will focus on compelling scientific questions, such as "are there
Earth-like planets orbiting other stars?"

"NASA's science-driven mission portfolio, its cultivation of young talent
to pursue cutting-edge research, and the decision to commit its genius to a
question of transcendent cultural significance, would have thrilled Carl,"
said Ann Druyan, Sagan's widow and collaborator, who continues to write and produce.

"That this knowledge will be pursued in his name, as he joins a triumvirate
of the leading lights of 20th century astronomy, is a source of infinite pride
to our family," said Druyan. "It signifies that Carl's passion to engage us all
in the scientific experience, his daring curiosity and urgent concern for life
on this planet, no longer eclipse his scientific achievements."

A call for Sagan Fellowship proposals went out to the scientific community earlier
this week, with selections to be announced in February 2009.

"There is an explosion of interest in the field," said Charles Beichman of NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Now we are going down a scientific
path that Carl Sagan originally blazed, torch in hand, as he led us through the dark."
Beichman is executive director of NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena, which will administer the fellowship program.

Recently, NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes have made landmark observations
of hot, Jupiter-like planets orbiting other stars. The telescopes detected methane and
water in the planets' atmospheres -- the same molecules that might serve as tracers of
life if discovered around smaller, rocky planets in the future. In a 1994 paper for the
journal Nature, Sagan and colleagues used these and other molecules to identify life
on a planet -- Earth. They used NASA's Galileo spacecraft to observe the molecular
signatures of our "pale blue dot," as Sagan dubbed Earth, while the spacecraft flew by.

"Only a select few scientists carry the insight, vision and persistence to open entire
new vistas on the cosmos," said Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Frederick P. Rose
director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
"We know about Einstein. We know about Hubble. Add to this list Carl Sagan, who empowered
us all -- scientists as well as the public -- to see planets not simply as cosmic
objects but as worlds of their own that could harbor life." The fellowships were
announced at the planetarium today.

NASA's Kepler mission, which Sagan championed in his last years, will launch next
year and will survey hundreds of thousands of nearby stars for Earth-like worlds, some
of which are likely to orbit within the star's water-friendly "habitable zone" favorable
for life as we know it.

JPL manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at Caltech.
Caltech manages JPL for NASA. JPL also managed the Galileo mission.

More information about NASA's Sagan Fellowships is at http://nexsci.caltech.edu/sagan .
More information about extrasolar planets and NASA's planet-finding program is at
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov .

-end-

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Mars Odyssey THEMIS Images: August 25-29, 2008

MARS ODYSSEY THEMIS IMAGES
August 25-29, 2008

o Auqakuh Vallis (Released 25 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080825a

o Alba Patera (Released 26 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080826a

o Arabia Terra (Released 27 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080827a

o Labeatis Fossae (Released 28 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080828a

o Terra Sabaea (Released 29 August 2008)
http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20080829a

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.

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MRO HiRISE Images - August 27, 2008

MARS RECONNAISSANCE ORBITER HIRISE IMAGES
August 27, 2008

o Structure of the North Polar Layered Deposits
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009293_2645

o Chloride Salt Deposits within a Channel in Terra Sirenum
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009318_1465

o Crater Bound Dunes
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009087_2550

o Inverted Riverbed in Gale Crater
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_009149_1750

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.

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