Ice on Mars - Now You See It

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Caption:

Figure 1 High resolution tiff Figure 2 High resolution tiff

This color image was acquired by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander on the 21st day of the mission, or Sol 20 (June 15, 2008).

It shows lumps of ice in the lower left corner of a trench nicknamed "Dodo-Goldilocks." These lumps later sublimated, a process similar to evaporation, over the course of four days.

In the lower left corner of the left image of figures 1 and 2, a group of lumps is visible. In the right images, the lumps have disappeared.

Background Info:

The Phoenix Mission is led by the University of Arizona, Tucson, on behalf of NASA. Project management of the mission is by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Spacecraft development is by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver.

Photojournal Note: As planned, the Phoenix lander, which landed May 25, 2008 23:53 UTC, ended communications in November 2008, about six months after landing, when its solar panels ceased operating in the dark Martian winter.

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