The finding marks the first time that fog has been directly observed on the neighbouring world, adding to evidence that modern Mars experiences a type of ongoing water cycle akin to Earth's.

"Because the atmosphere is so thin on Mars, there is nothing to keep in the heat overnight, so the ground cools off very quickly," said study co-author , a [n NSERC post doctoral fellow and] planetary scientist at 91亚色 [Faculty of Science & Engineering].

"Heat from the air is lost to the ground, so the air close to the ground gets colder, and as that pocket of (cold) air gets larger," more water vapour in the atmosphere condenses into ice crystals, and the fog gets thicker, Moores said.

"The fog starts closer to the ground and rises in height over time, so the cloud gets thicker and thicker and higher and higher as the night goes on," he added.

Eventually the icy haze begins to shower the ground with a light sprinkling of snow-like particles. The shower is not quite snowfall, the scientists say, but is perhaps more akin to the "diamond dust" that falls from the skies on some cold nights in Earth's Arctic regions.

"Because we have the fog," Moores said, "that means that there is a reservoir of water [in the atmosphere] to interact with subsurface water on a daily basis."

The Martian-fog study was published in the Feb. 25 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Moores is also a member of the (CRESS), which has had a significant role in the lander mission.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Exactly how do we decide when it's time to end the focus on our planetary neighbour and turn our primary exploratory efforts elsewhere?

I ask in part because a casual reader of recent national headlines might have been tempted to pronounce that Canada seems to have aligned with Mars. In August, the Canadian Space Agency and the California Institute of Technology agreed to develop an instrument to help measure methane in the Martian atmosphere.

It will fly on a joint NASA/European Space Agency Mars in 2016.

. . .

This interpretation is not just media blather or the fallout of all those little-green-men-on-Mars science fiction stories.

鈥淎ll the Mars science is couched around the search for life, even if it isn鈥檛 explicitly stated,鈥� says Professor , acting director of 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, who is one of the scientists behind the effort.

For example, there was debate between NASA and ESA scientists about what instrument to send on the mission. Some favoured one that measured winds, another carbon dioxide, but ultimately the methane won out because of its life-on-Mars component, says McConnell.

The MATMOS instrument will try to figure out what created the methane in the Martian atmosphere. Was it the byproduct of a bacterial biology, as is the case for 90 per cent of the methane found in Earth鈥檚 atmosphere? Or did it come from some geological process such as the methane-producing oxidation of iron that happens on Earth?

If it does bear an isotopic signature of a biological source, then it follows there is something alive 鈥� probably bacteria 鈥� on Mars that is producing it. And if there is life on Mars, it seems almost imperative that humans should travel to there to find out what Martian life might be and what it might do. We will understand our evolution better if we understand their evolution better.

. . .

It is not clear what proving there鈥檚 no life on Mars would involve.

McConnell told me, 鈥淢y feeling is that if we find life, that is one type of answer. But if we don鈥檛, someone will always say, 鈥榊ou didn鈥檛 look here, you didn鈥檛 look there, you didn鈥檛 look deep enough to find the fossils.鈥欌��

Professor McConnell is among the 91亚色 researchers working on the , a partnership between the , the (CSA) and . He is also a member of the (CRESS).

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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On May 24, NASA released photos of the Mars Phoenix lander that finally ended even the faintest hope that the 91亚色-designed weather instruments on board the spacecraft would come to life again. The photos show that the lander鈥檚 solar panels appear to have collapsed due to the weight of a thick layer of frost, robbing it of power it needs to communicate 鈥� if its physical components were not already cracked and broken by the extreme cold.

Left: Members of the 91亚色 Phoenix team nervously await the first results from Mars on May 28, 2008

Although none of the Phoenix team at 91亚色 held out much hope for Phoenix鈥檚 survival, the news from NASA made it official. The team will be toasting both the project鈥檚 success and the lander鈥檚 demise tonight at the Space Science Symposium: Reflections on Canada鈥檚 Past and Future Achievements in Space Science, being held to honour the 50-year career of Gordon Shepherd, Distinguished Research Professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering.

鈥淲e will be celebrating the accomplishment and the fact that it鈥檚 finally over,鈥� said 91亚色 Professor Jim Whiteway, principal investigator for the Canadian portion of the Phoenix project, which was led by the University of Arizona and NASA.

The Phoenix touched down on the Red Planet two years ago and provided the world with the stunning revelation that it snows on Mars (see YFile, Oct. 1, 2008). But the lander, whose meteorology instruments were designed by Whiteway and his team from 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS) in the Faculty of Science & Engineering (FSE), was never designed to withstand a Martian winter. 鈥淲e stopped hoping it would respond in March,鈥� said Whiteway. 鈥淲e never did make any plans 鈥� it wasn鈥檛 designed to survive the winter.鈥�

NASA issued a story and photos (right) taken by the Mars Odyssey orbiter (see ), which flew over the landing site 61 times during a final attempt to communicate with the lander. No transmission from the lander was detected. Phoenix also did not communicate during 150 flights in three earlier listening campaigns this year.

Since the work of the mission ended with the onset of the Martian winter in November 2008, Whiteway and his team have published 15 papers in international journals reporting new knowledge that has changed our understanding of the climate and the hydrological cycle on Mars. These results are now informing a new generation of computer models being used to study the climate on Mars. 鈥淭hey are simple observations and would be quite pedestrian on earth,鈥� Whiteway said, 鈥渂ut they are quite something else on a different planet.鈥�

Alan Carswell, chair of the board at Optech, professor emeritus at 91亚色听and developer of听the lidar technology, said it was fitting that the Space Seminar, where he is also speaking, is being held on the very day two years ago that the 91亚色 team received the first results from Phoenix鈥檚 MET package. It was a few days later that the instrument confirmed that it snows on Mars. 鈥淭hat was a pure lidar observation 鈥� without it the snow wouldn鈥檛 have been detected,鈥� Carswell said. 鈥淭he fact that it was our lidar that allowed it to be seen was really quite reassuring and satisfying.鈥�

听

听A view of one of Phoenix's solar panels after the landing on Mars

With the project reports all but complete, the 91亚色 team听is now focusing on new proposals for missions to map asteroids and moons using the lidar technology that was a key component of the Phoenix鈥檚 MET package. These projects are being led by 91亚色 Professor Michael Daly, a former staff member at MDA Space Missions who was the chief engineer for the Phoenix MET project and then joined FSE as a professor in January.

Phoenix鈥檚 meteorological component was a collaboration led by 91亚色, in partnership with the University of Alberta, Dalhousie University, the University of Aarhus (Denmark), the Finnish Meteorological Institute, MDA Space Missions and Optech Inc., with $37 million in funding from the Canadian Space Agency. The mission was a of NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratories and the University of Arizona.

For more information on the science results of the mission and links to more stories about Phoenix, see YFile, July 6, 2009.

By David Fuller, contributing YFile writer.

Republished courtesy of YFile.

听

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The annual prize, one of the top accolades for the advancement of space technology in Canada, was awarded Tuesday to the CanX-2 microsatellite team, headed by the University of Toronto. 91亚色鈥檚 instrument, a microspectrometer dubbed Argus, is currently riding aboard the microsatellite, which launched in April 2008. Argus can accurately detect sources of industrial pollution on Earth, to a resolution of one kilometre.

"We鈥檙e very excited to be part of the team receiving this award," said Argus principal investigator Brendan Quine, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering. "Argus was a Canadian first and we鈥檙e delighted we could make it happen at 91亚色."

Right: Brendan Quine with the Alouette Award

The device, which is small enough to fit in the palm of an adult鈥檚 hand, transmits data via infrared radiation emitted to space. It enables scientists to determine local levels of carbon dioxide and other climate change gases by recording infrared spectra, which contain information about atmospheric composition.

Developed in partnership with Thoth Technology Inc., it is the first space instrument to be built and tested in 91亚色鈥檚 space engineering laboratory, part of the University鈥檚 Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS). Argus鈥� current mandate includes monitoring levels of ash from recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

CASI introduced the Alouette Award in 1995 to recognize an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Canadian space technology, science or engineering. It may be awarded to an individual, a group, an organization or group of organizations, as appropriate to the nature of the contribution. Preference is given to contributions that lead to new benefits for mankind.

The team's win was also covered in the North 91亚色 Mirror May 12:

91亚色 researchers who designed and built a miniature space-borne pollution monitor are part of a team of Canadians who were honoured with a 2010 Alouette Award from the Canadian Aeronautics & Space Institute (CASI).

The annual prize, one of the top accolades for the advancement of space technology in Canada, was awarded May 4 to the CanX-2 microsatellite team, headed by the University of Toronto.

91亚色鈥檚 instrument, a microspectrometer dubbed Argus, is currently riding aboard the microsatellite, which launched in April 2008. Argus can accurately detect sources of industrial pollution on Earth, to a resolution of one kilometre.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited to be a part of the team receiving this award,鈥� Brendan Quine, Argus Principal investigator and professor in 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, said in a release. 鈥淎rgus is a Canadian first and we鈥檙e delighted we could make it happen at 91亚色.鈥�

For more information, visit the Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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