Wednesday, January 28, 2004
As discussed earlier, the current Mars rover missions are located in what is now a dry lake bed. They are there to find hematite, and try to discover if there was water there at one time, and if there was any microbrial life contained in that water. Other methods will be used as well, such as looking at the cross section provided by a nearby crater wall, analyzing the composion of the soil, and other such tools and processes at hand.
But if the search is primarily for water/ice, then why not go where you KNOW there is ice? Specifically the polar caps?
Well as we learned the following day, NASA had tried to send a lander to the polar caps, only to lose the lander because of some unknown accident upon entry. So, since it failed the first time, scrap the idea and move on, right? Wrong.
They haven't given up on the idea completely. I received a response from Leonard David of Space.com after e-mialing him directly, and I'll share that with you now:
Matt: You're right - to look for life may well mean going to the polar caps. That's the plan for the Phoenix Mars lander in 2007. Meanwhile, don't give up on Spirit or Opportunity - they too will provide clues as to microbial life on Mars.
Leonard
SPACE.com
First and foremost, my sincere thanks to Mr. David for his timely reply.
After receiving this golden piece of information, I came across a few sites that could shine some light on the upcoming Phoenix Project. The links are here and here.
Amongst the goals for the mission include finding water, or ice by using an excavator boom to dig deep into the soil in hopes of finding an ice sheet below the surface. It would be supremely ironic if up from the ground came a bubblin' crude. Glack Gold. Texas Tea. You wanna re-invigorate the space race? Announce that you've struck oil on Mars. Watch not only the governments of the world, but the private sector explode in advances to be the first to claim Mars for their own.
But anther part of the goals for the mission is to determine a HABITALE landing site for a MANNED Mission. Very intersting indeed. Apparently there is some concern about toxic oxidants either on or just below the surface that may need some study. As I get time, I'll read up on it more, and come back to you with some of the details.
The family dined at Red Robin tongiht. It's a resteraunt chain that is fairly popular on the west coast, and only recently arrived in this market. Having been to a few out in Washington state, I had an idea of what to expect, but then it's been almost 5 years since I had eaten there. Would the service still be half-assed, as it had been out there? No, it wasn't. It wasn't perfect, but they were at least interested in making us happy with our meals.
We started off the meal with an order of onion rings. What is there to say about oinion rings? They were cooked correctly, in that the onion inside the ring hadn't shriveled away to nothing, like a man who has spent too much time in cold water. (Something the Polar Bear Club seems to forget about every year until it's too late. Sure, you're braving the cold water. But it's hardly complimentary to their allure with women. ) The breading\batter did i's job. They serve some sort of creamy ranch and some other sort of bar-b-Q sauce that looks like Thousand island dressing to go along with it. Well, you might like it, but I can't see eating rings with anything BUT ketchup. (Heinz, of course.)
For dinner, I went with the Fair seet onion burger, which was made to order. The burgers in general seem to be a bit gresy, adn this was no exception. However, if it is a good enough burger, you really don't notice until after you've finished it, and notice the small pool in the basket it came in. All sandwiches come with all you can eat steak fries, which are a bit hit or miss, but they get the job done. There were also good reports for the fish sandwich and a bar-b-q burger as well.
The service again was decent and pleasant. For those that it matters to, the waitresses are fairly attractive, but nothing to make you stand up and follow back into the kitchen for some carnal culinary fun.
The atmosphere is very kid friendly, with plenty of bold colors, and various pictures on the wall to distract you. It's much like Applebee's but just pictures and posters, and no knick-knacks. In some ways, they try to capture the 50's burger joint, but they simply don't go all out on it as they should.
Still, if you are looking for a decent burger place above McDonalds and Denny's of the world, Red Robin isn't a bad bet. Most meals cost about $7.50 or so, and it might be a bit more than what you get...but if you get a second helping of fries, you feel you got your money's worth.
The best moment of the night? We ordered hot fudge sundaes for the two older girls, and sat back and watch the smiles creep across their face as they ate their ice cream. They're sleeping contendedly now. What a wonderful life to lead, where the simple pleasures of an ice cream tops off a good day. Adults have a terrible way of making life more complicated than it should be.
In fact, I'm gonna go have a bowl of instant contentment right now. Will chocolate syrup on top.
An ice cream toast to all of you readers out there. We'll see you tomorrow.
But if the search is primarily for water/ice, then why not go where you KNOW there is ice? Specifically the polar caps?
Well as we learned the following day, NASA had tried to send a lander to the polar caps, only to lose the lander because of some unknown accident upon entry. So, since it failed the first time, scrap the idea and move on, right? Wrong.
They haven't given up on the idea completely. I received a response from Leonard David of Space.com after e-mialing him directly, and I'll share that with you now:
Matt: You're right - to look for life may well mean going to the polar caps. That's the plan for the Phoenix Mars lander in 2007. Meanwhile, don't give up on Spirit or Opportunity - they too will provide clues as to microbial life on Mars.
Leonard
SPACE.com
First and foremost, my sincere thanks to Mr. David for his timely reply.
After receiving this golden piece of information, I came across a few sites that could shine some light on the upcoming Phoenix Project. The links are here and here.
Amongst the goals for the mission include finding water, or ice by using an excavator boom to dig deep into the soil in hopes of finding an ice sheet below the surface. It would be supremely ironic if up from the ground came a bubblin' crude. Glack Gold. Texas Tea. You wanna re-invigorate the space race? Announce that you've struck oil on Mars. Watch not only the governments of the world, but the private sector explode in advances to be the first to claim Mars for their own.
But anther part of the goals for the mission is to determine a HABITALE landing site for a MANNED Mission. Very intersting indeed. Apparently there is some concern about toxic oxidants either on or just below the surface that may need some study. As I get time, I'll read up on it more, and come back to you with some of the details.
The family dined at Red Robin tongiht. It's a resteraunt chain that is fairly popular on the west coast, and only recently arrived in this market. Having been to a few out in Washington state, I had an idea of what to expect, but then it's been almost 5 years since I had eaten there. Would the service still be half-assed, as it had been out there? No, it wasn't. It wasn't perfect, but they were at least interested in making us happy with our meals.
We started off the meal with an order of onion rings. What is there to say about oinion rings? They were cooked correctly, in that the onion inside the ring hadn't shriveled away to nothing, like a man who has spent too much time in cold water. (Something the Polar Bear Club seems to forget about every year until it's too late. Sure, you're braving the cold water. But it's hardly complimentary to their allure with women. ) The breading\batter did i's job. They serve some sort of creamy ranch and some other sort of bar-b-Q sauce that looks like Thousand island dressing to go along with it. Well, you might like it, but I can't see eating rings with anything BUT ketchup. (Heinz, of course.)
For dinner, I went with the Fair seet onion burger, which was made to order. The burgers in general seem to be a bit gresy, adn this was no exception. However, if it is a good enough burger, you really don't notice until after you've finished it, and notice the small pool in the basket it came in. All sandwiches come with all you can eat steak fries, which are a bit hit or miss, but they get the job done. There were also good reports for the fish sandwich and a bar-b-q burger as well.
The service again was decent and pleasant. For those that it matters to, the waitresses are fairly attractive, but nothing to make you stand up and follow back into the kitchen for some carnal culinary fun.
The atmosphere is very kid friendly, with plenty of bold colors, and various pictures on the wall to distract you. It's much like Applebee's but just pictures and posters, and no knick-knacks. In some ways, they try to capture the 50's burger joint, but they simply don't go all out on it as they should.
Still, if you are looking for a decent burger place above McDonalds and Denny's of the world, Red Robin isn't a bad bet. Most meals cost about $7.50 or so, and it might be a bit more than what you get...but if you get a second helping of fries, you feel you got your money's worth.
The best moment of the night? We ordered hot fudge sundaes for the two older girls, and sat back and watch the smiles creep across their face as they ate their ice cream. They're sleeping contendedly now. What a wonderful life to lead, where the simple pleasures of an ice cream tops off a good day. Adults have a terrible way of making life more complicated than it should be.
In fact, I'm gonna go have a bowl of instant contentment right now. Will chocolate syrup on top.
An ice cream toast to all of you readers out there. We'll see you tomorrow.
Comments:
Post a Comment
