When we sent astronauts to the moon, they were sent in a rocket and when they reached the moon, they descended in a lunar lander that used rockets to slow it down, until it reached a soft landing. It worked and as far as we know, no astronauts were lost. I say as far as we know, because who knows if any secret landings were attempted that we never found out about? I don't think that this happened, but I have no way of knowing for sure and after all, we are now a nation of secrets. Anyway, I only bring up the bit about using rockets to land on the moon, to show that we were successful when using this technology. After the moon landings, we tried to use rocket landing to land on Mars and met with failure. I want you to know that this article was written on Sunday, May 18, 2007, approximately one week before the Mars Phoenix mission was due to land on Mars using rocket engines for the first time in about 30 years.

When missions are sent to Mars, I always experience some excitement. Why not, Mars is our neighbor and it is possible that life may have existed there in the past, or there may even be something there now, but this is only a remote possibility. One has to remember that there is an atmosphere there of sorts. It is said to only extend about one foot off of the surface, but this is sufficient for tiny animals and plants to exist. This fact has never been acknowledged by NASA to my knowledge. Several scientists have stated this and it brings all sorts of possibilities to mind. The most way out possibility is tiny beings and the most likely are bugs, germs, plants and such. When I say this, I am not considering the fact that no matter how harsh the Martian environment is above that one foot high altitude, that life is capable of living under some incredible conditions. Fish on earth have developed a kind of antifreeze in their blood in real cold environments here and other animals have been able to survive in the sea next to vents spewing out molten lava that makes the water boil. Keeping this in mind, Mars is not eliminated from being able to support some type of life, even now. It might even turn out that some great civilization lived there in the past.

Phoenix Capsule
Photo Source: NASA

Almost all of us have heard of the face on Mars, the pyramid, the temple and other formations on the red planet. As a matter of fact, there is a very interesting area on the planet known as Cydonia, where many of these things are found. There are said to be glass tunnels that terminate in a building that some think was a transportation hub. Let me ask you this, if you were in charge of NASA and was planning a trip to Mars and knew that an area like this existed, wouldn't you want to investigate it further? I know that I certainly would, unless I was ordered not to. The new Phoenix mission is scheduled to land on May 25, 2008, but nowhere near Cydonia. As a matter of fact, it is scheduled to land at approximately 68 degrees N latitude and 233 degrees East Longitude. That is in the Martian Arctic circle. The vehicle is a lander and not a rover. For the first time in many years, thrusters will be used to land on Mars. It makes you wonder why the successful air bag type of landing is being avoided and we are going back to thrusters that have been so unreliable in the past, when we tried to land vehicles on Mars? One of the things that will happen when and if we make a successful landing, is that the area that we land on will have been sprayed with ammonia, or that is what NASA admits the hydrazine fuel will turn into. There will also be some hydrazine fuel that doesn't combust and this will stay hydrazine when it too hits the ground. We are polluting Mars. This will completely alter the site and may eliminate any successful search for life.

Why are we avoiding Cydonia, spraying ammonia all over the landing site, not sending a rover to the new site and using a landing technique that has been so unsuccessful in the past, t when we tried to land probes on Mars? These are some powerful questions and I believe that they should be answered. Many of us feel that Cydonia is now off the NASA radar and that there are things there that the space agency just doesn't want us to see. When I say 'us', I am not just talking about ordinary people like you and me, but also some prominent scientists. I am not saying that they all believe that there are monuments there. What I am saying is that there are things there that deserve further investigation. NASA has orbiters circling Mars and they have sometimes had times when they were off line, where they could have really been taking photos of that area. NASA probably knows everything in the Cydonia region and some of these things look more and more man made. It just could be that there was a powerful, advanced race that lived on Mars at one time. We should be entitled to know the answer to that and not have that area avoided, every chance that NASA has.

Some people think the the reason that the Phoenix mission is going to use rockets to land on Mars, is that NASA wants it to fail and it is nothing more than a stalling tactic, so NASA can say that they are exploring Mars. If they had true exploration in mind, why would they pollute the landing site? The official word is that they are looking for water, frozen water. I have to wonder if there is frozen water in the Martian Arctic, wouldn't it be detectable from low orbit? As I said, I am not a scientist, but it seems to me that this is possible. If water was detected, then I could understand sending a probe to the surface, but why isn't it a rover, just in case the ice is not exactly at the landing area? It is hard for me to get a handle on this mission, there are just too many questions. NASA answers the ammonia question this way,"The way we get around that is by 1) knowing that we are going to be producing ammonia and 2) by designing the wet chemistry cells to carefully quantify the amount of ammonia in the regolith. We then use this information to interpret our other results." Hey guys and gals, wouldn't it make more sense not to pollute the landing area before taking readings? By the way, this will be the first time a powered landing will be used on a Mars probe, since the Viking missions of the 1970s.

Is NASA prepping a Mars mission to fail? That is a pretty strong statement by some. It will be interesting to note if the mission is successful or not. Even if it does fail, that certainly does not mean that it was intended to do so. Still that would reinforce the theory that some have, that states that NASA really doesn't want us to know what is on Mars. Even if it does land safely, the Arctic region of Mars is considered one of the most desolate and I am sure it has been studied considerably, to make sure that there is nothing there that might convince us that a civilization once existed on this planet. The probe has a robotic arm they will drill into the Martian ice and soil. It also contains eleven, one use ovens for heating soil samples to free gas and vapor. Could it be that we already know that there is a large ice shelf in the Martian arctic and that is why we are not sending a rover? Could this shelf be so large that we don't have to worry about landing in an exact spot? All the evidence would certainly seem to indicate this, otherwise NASA would be throwing money away by sending a stationary probe up to Mars.

I hope that NASA is really looking for water and that the Phoenix probe lands safely on Mars and then is successful in it's search for water. If water is found, that may open up the entire planet for colonization. Maybe it could even be terra formed and become a more Earth like place. If it turns out that the mission was just a delaying tactic, then I know that I certainly will lose the little respect that I have left for NASA.