The photo at left is not of Antarctica nor of New Orleans. It is the planet Mars; the photo was taken by the Phoenix Lander. John Miller sent us this great photo from South Pole Station where he and his team were working with NASA on scientific issues relating to the Lander. (John sent us this link: http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/gallery.php,
and NASA has dedicated a photo to our friends at the South Pole for helping.)
John and his team were in a conference call with the Phoenix Mars Mission team. South Pole Station sits on 9000 feet of ice, and NASA is looking for ice in a similarly hostile environment. There are other parallels between Mars and Antarctica, such as having similar winter solstices, so NASA placed a call to the South Pole. It seems that one of the Phoenix Mars Mission leaders was stationaed one winter at Amundsen-Scott base too.
John informs us that on the day this was taken, it was colder in Antarctica than at this spot on Mars, although it usually is colder on Mars. Well, it was a lot hotter in New Orleans, too hot; but we are excited to learn about all of these amazing scientific things. Needless to say, it is an outstanding learning opportunity for our students ... and our blog readers.
--Adrian
No comments:
Post a Comment