Scientists continue to analyze the data returned by the Phoenix mission to Mars. On May 25th, 2008, when Phoenix touched down on Mars, the lander’s thrusters blasted away as much as 18cm of Martian soil underneath the probe and exposed a layer of ice. While the discovery of the subsurface ice generated a great deal of excitement, some scientists were puzzled, because Phoenix’s relatively weak rocket engines, with 30 percent less total thrust than those of the Viking Mars Landers in the '70s, shouldn’t have excavated that much dirt.
In a new study led by Manish Mehta of the University of Michigan, scientists recreated Mars-like conditions in a laboratory to understand what happened when Phoenix landed. Their study led to a discovery of a new phenomenon in which a rocket plume excavates underlying soil explosively. It was published in this month’s issue of planetary science journal Icarus.
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Leighton Meester Dominique Swain Jamie Chung Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell
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