Word: ice
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...likely to find a penguin on Mars - or a seal or a puffin or a polar bear either. But that doesn't mean there aren't interesting things going on in the planet's polar regions. Life requires water, after all, and water - at least in the form of ice - is found in abundance at the poles. That's why the Mars Phoenix lander is en route to pay a call there, with a first ever touchdown in the Martian Arctic set for this Sunday...
...NASA calls "ripper tines," sharp teeth able to chew through a concrete-like permafrost a lot tougher than the powdery soil found at lower Martian latitudes. The scoop will be able to dig about 19 in. deep (.5 m), or about the depth at which NASA scientists believe the ice meets the soil. It will then transfer what it gouges out to the spacecraft itself, where the onboard science lab will examine it for organic materials, biochemical processes and other signs of life...
...stay in mind. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers bounced down on Mars in 2004 with a similar lowball goal of just 90 days of operational life. Yet despite arthritic wheels and joints and the need for periodic power-conserving naps, both of them roll on. Phoenix, resting on the ice on its three static pads, won't roll anywhere. But what it learns just standing in one place could push planetary science further than it's ever gone before...
...sitcoms anymore. The highest-rated show on the Discovery Channel, Deadliest Catch, follows crews of Alaskan crab fishermen fighting storms, monster waves and other boats to haul wriggling paydays from the cruel, icy deep. The show's producer, Thom Beers, has followed up with the History Channel's Ice Road Truckers (about long-haul drivers in the Arctic), Ax Men (loggers in Oregon) and truTV's Black Gold (oil riggers in Texas), debuting in June. Dirty Jobs profiles salvage workers, plumbers and cattle inseminators, while Tougher in Alaska lionizes linemen, miners and other Last Frontiersmen who probably make your...
...white cardboard image of the beloved marsupial was photographed by satellites on May 20 as part of a multicountry project to study the albedo effect, the amount of sunlight that reflects off Earth's surface. Scientists are gathering data to raise awareness of how the whiteness of the polar ice caps, currently shrinking because of global warming, helps deflect heat from the sun and keep the planet cool...