Word: martianize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
NASA has ambitious plans for Sojourner this week. It wants the rover to investigate Scooby Doo and Casper, two rocks that look intriguingly white in lander photos and just might contain hints of ancient Martian life. How so? To scientists, the duo's whitish hues suggest that they may be sedimentary rocks. "That would be awesome," says Ken Edgett, an Arizona State University geologist, "because sedimentary rock is the kind of thing that forms under water. And when you have water that sits around for a long time and sediments pour into it, the possibility of preserving fossils goes...
Pathfinder's lander too should have a busy week. It is scheduled to shoot pictures of the Martian sunrise and sunset, the moons Deimos and Phobos and other features of the landscape...
...chance of surviving for seven days, he explains, "because that's what we designed it for. But after that, maybe it's got a 90% chance for eight days or 75% for two weeks." While the rover's electronics are protected in a warm box, the Martian temperatures, swinging wildly from 8[degrees]F to 130[degrees]F, may degrade the batteries. "We'll have to see how well they hold charges," says Wessen. Another threat, both to the lander--which is designed to survive for 30 days--and to the rover is Martian dust, which could coat the solar...
Naming features on the red planet is hardly an exact science. After putting in 16-hour days, says Bob Reid of the Mars Pathfinder science team, "we choose names that keep us happy." Match each Martian formation below with its terrestrial namesake...
...going to be a bummer if Mars turns out to be like us," Newt Gingrich was quoted as saying last week. Well, whether or not it's a bummer is a matter of opinion, but one thing is certain: any Martian who lands in one of our kitchens is going to feel very much at home...