Planetary Science Update (broadcast Friday, July 11th, 2008)

Messenger was able to take pictures of parts of Mercury that had been in shadow during previous visits by Mariner spacecraft. NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institut

In this segment, we'll get the latest from around the solar system, checking in with scientists on both the Mars Phoenix and Mercury Messenger space missions.

A suite of 11 papers examining Mercury were recently published. The papers were the result of a close flyby of the planet earlier this year. Among the findings were the fact that the planet appears to have an iron core, has volcanoes larger than the state of Delaware, and appears to have shrunk over time as it cooled -- and cracked during the process.

On Mars, the Phoenix lander successfully identified water ice crystals in a soil sample scooped up by the lander. The scientists running the mission are now using onboard instruments to perform a more complicated analysis of the Martian soil and its contents. We'll get the latest. Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests

Peter Smith
Principal Investigator
NASA's Phoenix Mars Mission
Senior Research Scientist, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Ralph McNutt, Jr
Project Scientist, MESSENGER mission
Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University
Laurel, Maryland

Related Links

Segment produced by:Annette Heist

Image: Comparision of airfall dust (left) to Martian soil (right) taken by the Optical Microscope on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander. At the microscope's resolution, similar particles are seen in both samples, suggesting that the soil is formed from settling dust.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona