Mars has a new robot geologist on its surface, as of last night at just before 8pm (E.S.T.). The Mars Phoenix lander arrived in Mars' north polar region after an apparently dicey landing sequence that went off without a hitch. It unfurled its solar panels and started taking pictures, like the one at the left. That's a new view of the planet thought most likely to give us insights into the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe.

Why the pole? That's where the water is. Remote sensing indicates ice just a few inches below the surface in this area, and the geomorphology seems to back that up. Visible even in this earliest photo, polygonal shaped features suggest repeated freeze-thaw action. (Similar freze-thaw action in Earth's polar regions produces similar features, like these:



That's the way geology works, right? The principle of uniformity suggests that uniform physical laws operating over vast ranges of time and space will produce similar phenomena in different locations. It remains to be seen how valid this principle is in guiding our exploration of other planets, but with Mars it appears that there are some real similarities. And why do we care where the water is? Because on Earth, all life needs water. Figuring out whether life exists elsewhere in the universe has huge implications for our place in the cosmos.

Labels: mars, planetary geology, satellite imagery, tech