Gizmorama!

Gizmorama -
“The Cutting Edge of Science Fact and Science Possibilities”
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Good Morning,

Today we’re looking how Phoenix Lander sees snow -
falling on Mars…Enjoy and Have A Good Day!

Until Tomorrow,
Erin

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         Arctic Sea ice sets ice melting record

The U.S. space agency says the Arctic Sea, although not
breaking a record for ice loss, had a faster ice melting
period in August than ever before. “I was not expecting
that ice cover at the end of summer this year would be
as bad as 2007 because winter ice cover was almost
normal,” said Joey Comiso of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration’s Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md. He said the 2008 sea ice minimum was
second to 2007 for the record-lowest extent of sea ice.
An announcement by NASA and the University of Colorado’s
National Snow and Ice Data Center stated that as of Sept.
12 ice covered 1.74 million square miles. That’s 860,000
square miles less than the average minimum extent record-
ed from 1979 to 2000. Contributing to the near-record
sea ice minimum in 2008 was a monthlong period that saw
the fastest-ever rate of seasonal retreat. From Aug. 1
to Aug. 31, NASA data show Arctic Sea ice extent de-
clined at a rate of 32,700 square miles per day, com-
pared with a rate of about 24,400 square miles per day
in August 2007.

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      U.S. invests in solar photovoltaic project

The U.S. Department of Energy says it intends to invest
up to $17.6 million for six early stage solar photovol-
taic module incubator projects. Department officials
said the projects will focus on the initial manufactur-
ing of advanced solar PV technologies. Including the
cost share from industry, which will be at least 20 per-
cent, the Energy Department said the total research in-
vestment is expected to reach $35.4 million. “These pro-
jects support President Bush’s Solar America Initiative,
which aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with
conventional forms of electricity by 2015,” the depart-
ment said in a statement. “Increasing the use of alter-
native and clean energy technologies such as solar
energy is critical to diversifying the nation’s energy
sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
dependence on foreign oil.” The 18-month project awards
went to 1366 Technologies of Lexington, Mass.; Innova-
light Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif.; Skyline Solar Inc. of
Mountain View, Calif.; Solasta Inc. of Newton, Mass.;
Solexel of Milpitas, Calif.; and Spire Semiconductor
of Hudson, N.H.

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       Phoenix Lander sees snow falling on Mars

The U.S. space agency says its Phoenix Mars Lander has
detected snow falling from Martian clouds, vaporizing
before reaching the planet’s surface. And the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration says that, plus
soil test experiments, have proven evidence of past in-
teraction between minerals and liquid water — both
processes that occur on Earth. “A laser instrument
designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and
surface interact on Mars detected snow from clouds
about 2.5 miles above the spacecraft’s landing site,”
NASA said, adding data shows the snow vaporizing before
reaching the ground. “Nothing like this view has ever
been seen on Mars,” said Jim Whiteway, of Canada’s York
University, the lead scientist for the Canadian-sup-
plied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. “We’ll be look-
ing for signs that the snow may even reach the ground.”
Since landing May 25, Phoenix has also confirmed a hard
subsurface layer at its far-northern site contains water-
ice. NASA said determining whether that ice ever thaws
will help answer whether the environment there has been
favorable for life, a key aim of the mission.