The Phoenix Lander is still hard at work discovering various hints of life on Mars. NASA had originally believed there was ice on Mars, but weren’t able to prove it at the time. Then, NASA found water.  Now, Philip Christensen, the principal investigator for the Mars Odyssey THEMIS camera system and a professor from Arizona State University says melting snow in Martian craters may have created a system of gullies that have potentially formed life.

“I think we have discovered remnants of snow packs on Mars that in the recent past have melted,” says Christensen. “I think if you were to land on one of those and stick a shovel in the ground, you’d be shoveling snow. And if life ever existed on Mars, I can’t think of a more exciting place to possibly go and look.”

Mars is a cold place, but just because it’s as cold as a witches tit doesn’t mean it can’t sustain lifeforms. After all, there are organisms on Earth that can withstand the temperature of Mars. Is mankind ready to take that giant leap into the final frontier and colonize a planet? Probably not. Regardless, Mars is proving itself to be the perfect candidate and has been proving it for quite some time.

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This was huge news for both NASA and the world, until today. Yesterday, the Phoenix Mars Lander heated up a soil sample from the surface of Mars. Upon heating it, a sensor identified vapors of water, meaning there very well could be life on the Red Planet.

“We have water,” said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. “We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”

NASA will continue to operate the Phoenix Mars Lander until September 30th, when the mission will come to an end. If there’s water on Mars, then I don’t see why there can’t be life-forms on the planet. Could we see men and women on Mars in the next 15 years? Quite possibly.

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NASA says their Phoenix lander may have found water on Mars again. Last month, they thought Phoenix had discovered Martian ice, but it evaporated before they could were able to analyze it. Now, NASA is announcing that Phoenix has discovered another small trench which may contain frozen water.

Data transmitted from the lander has revealed a hard layer below the surface of the trench and researchers are hoping this material is Martian ice. On Thursday, Phoenix confirmed that the top of the trench (pictured above) had been scraped away sufficiently to allow the lander to obtain a sample of the possible ice. Currently, Phoenix is undergoing cleaning procedures to ensure that it can take and analyze the hard material without contaminating it. Those so-called “rocket scientists” over there at NASA better move fast and not screw things up this time.

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When I was growing up, I had a friend named Kyle. Kyle loved LEGOs almost as much as I did, except he had one problem: he kept building huge cocks. That’s right. Dicks everywhere. He’d come over and build a replica of the Twin Towers shaped like dicks, a dick-shaped sentry gun, make a dick-shaped lake and then some. He’s exactly the kind of kid who would make a LEGO version of Stephen Hawking.

I was going to take this seriously. I gave the creator the benefit of the doubt that they actually took a novel interest in Hawking. Boy, was I wrong. Click ahead to see the lil’ guy on MARS and Space!

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Last we checked in with NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander, it had just discovered ice below the martian surface. Now, after multiple tests on the martian soil, scientists have discovered that the dirt-like substance contains alkaline. It’s been deemed friendly enough to support plant life both in “past, present and future.”

So the next time you want to plant some asparagus or green beans, consider martian soil. It’s rich, it’s creamy and it’s full of nutrients to support plant life. Just don’t try growing anything on Mars. The atmosphere has decayed enough that the surface is constantly bombarded by UV rays, thus killing any chance of that tomato bush you were hoping to plant.

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Scientists at NASA believe they’ve finally discovered ice on Mars. Recently, the Phoenix Mars Lander started collecting soil samples from the surface of the planet. After a few backhoe scoops, a white, glistening material was revealed. Scientists couldn’t figure out if it was ice or not but four days after it was uncovered, it vanished. The theory? It’s ice and it’s evaporating after being exposed.

What does this mean for us? It means Mars could, at some point in time, become a place for us to live. It also leaves us fucked if there was some monster living in a dormant state of rest underneath the ice. We’ll have to kick back and watch I suppose.

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Heard about NASA’s latest endeavor but haven’t had a chance to check out the pictures or read about it? No worries. I’ve got ya covered. Here’s a quick roundup on various coverage of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander:

I seriously doubt we’ll get attacked by aliens anytime soon but in case we are, we’ll be prepared to bluff their assault with these quirky ceramic ray guns from Muddy Mountain Pottery. The Raku Ray Gun series of creations feature classic sci-fi names such as “Van Vogt Defractor” and “Nemo Squidulator.” The median price of the guns you’ll find is about $275 a sculpture, a small price to pay for such unique art.

Interested in how these guns came about being crafted? From the website:

Raku Ray Guns are one-of-a-kind ceramic sculptures made by West Magoon. They are inspired by alien technology unearthed at a secret UFO crash site, known only to a tribe of Wyoming Hill People. These photos depict all of the individual Ray Guns currently available. Each is named after a classic science fiction author or character. The moon crater wall plaques that support the guns each measure 12″ wide by 9″ high.

In the end, they still don’t have shit on Ripley’s Pulse Rifle from Aliens.

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