Current mood:

accomplished

Mars is all wet
Well, perhaps not wet, per se, but the Spirit probe is detecting what may be water vapor in the air. On the surface of Mars water boils, even in the frigid cold, due to the extremely low atmospheric pressure. The only permanent discernable-from-Earth water on the planet appears to be in the ice caps at the north and south poles. However, the Martian soil, which due to its fine granularity rolls like water in some places, may contain water in a type of clay, where the water is bonded in a semi-frozen form to granules of sediment. This was what the Beagle was going to check. Hopefully Spirit and Opportunity will be able to take a look at this issue as well.

And while on the topic of all things Mars, http://www.panoramas.dk/fullscreen3/f2_mars.html It’s a composite of images from Spirit’s landing site. Absolutely breathtaking.