Cosmology Round-up

"We have water [on Mars]," confirms one of the scientists leading the Phoenix robot lander mission to the Red Planet. The Martian soil is not quite like what we expected. One of the critical questions under investigation by the Phoenix team now is whether the water is or was ever liquid long enough to support life. This is exciting stuff.

Liquid hydrocarbon lake detected on Titan. The lake, likely composed of methane and/or ethane, was found by the Cassini probe. Scientists think that Titan, largest moon of Saturn, has an environment and climate somewhat similar to that of Earth, albeit not water-based.


















Only 10 more space shuttle missions left. While the shuttles are marvels of technology, they are getting old fast. Remember that they were introduced in the late '70s. Personally, I can't wait to see the next generation of space vehicles. Unfortunately, I don't think we are quite at this point, yet.