JoeRobe - Slashdot User

Submission + - NASA Mars Phoenix is Dead

Submitted by JoeRobe on Monday November 10, 2008 @07:03PM

JoeRobe writes: After over 5 months of operation, NASA's Mars Phoenix lander has finally succumbed to the harsh Martian autumn. The lander's mission was originally scheduled for only 3 months. From the article: "As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot's arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander's instruments... The lander dug, scooped, baked, sniffed and tasted the Red Planet's soil. Among early results, it verified the presence of water-ice in the Martian subsurface, which NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter first detected remotely in 2002." The article points out that while the lander may be dead, the enormous amount of data that it obtained will keep scientists busy for years.

Submission + - Most kids play video games

Submitted by JoeRobe on Tuesday September 16, 2008 @04:22PM

JoeRobe writes: CNN is reporting that most kids (97%) play video games on a regular basis. From the story: "half of boys who were questioned listed a game with an "M" or "AO" rating as one of their favorites, compared with 14 percent of girls." However, the researchers are avoiding deeming gaming "good" or "bad". In fact, they found that "those who played games in face-to-face social settings were more likely to say they were committed to civic participation," possibly because gaming can make ties with other local gamers, which in turn stimulates "civic engagement."

Submission + - NASA's Phoenix Finally Fills Oven (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by

JoeRobe

on Wednesday June 11, 2008 @04:29PM

JoeRobe writes: "Phoenix has successfully filled oven #4 of the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument (TEGA). They have spent several days now vibrating the screen above the oven, trying to get a significant amount of soil sample into it. From the article: "the oven might have filled because of the cumulative effects of all the vibrating, or because of changes in the soil's cohesiveness as it sat for days on the top of the screen." Either way, this is the first step toward getting some interesting data from this instrument."

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