The ‘Snow White' excavation trench, after rasping
and digging by Phoenix. Credit: "NASA/Mars Phoenix"
Since witnessing the historic landing of NASA's Mars Phoenix Lander on May 25, I've been holding my breath to learn if Phoenix has made the discovery it set out to make: whether it landed on a vast deposit of water ice near Mars' northern polar cap.
It took several weeks after landing for the declaration to finally be made-and without further ado, YES, definitely, water ice was found by Phoenix. But even now, in August, it seems the declaration of Phoenix's great discovery is still in the process of unfolding, one careful and tantalizing announcement after another.
From a lay point of view one might think, why did it take weeks for Phoenix scientists to announce that, yes, the white stuff scraped up by the lander's instruments, from under a thin topping of soil, is water ice? And why do there seem to be unanswered questions about the nature of that ice even now, three months after landing?
For those familiar with how a remote robot probe like Phoenix makes its investigation, this is not surprising at all. In fact, serious scientific measurements by Phoenix didn't happen immediately after landing. The mission team had a lot of work to do to make sure the spacecraft was healthy and undamaged, ready to explore.