If you didn't see the program on TV last night,
you can go over the PBS.COM website and log in
and watch rthe episode on streaming video.

Nick Hoffman? You were and are WRONG!
Contrary to previous posts of yours, The Phoenix spacecraft
was and is a scientific success!...
That assessment from the very lips of those involved in the project,
particularily from project director, Doctor Peter H. Smith.

Some of the highlights from last night's TV program:

> The Phoenix spacecraft was the first to image unambiguous H20 (as surface ice)
on that planet.
>[an aside; not on the program] the Canadian weather station detected snowfall
in the martian atmosphere.
> Inspite of difficulties it's TEGA instrument and MECA achieved succcess.
> They found perchlorates.
> They detected strong signals indicating carbonates.
>They confirmed subsurface H20.
> They found the dirt to be alkaline at that martian polar site.
> more science results to come.

As far as the 3 orbiters, and the two long-lasting rovers? Last night's
program showed actual footage of the the JPL MER project team members
in action and provided details of what they found at Gusav Crater, at
Meridiani and globally.

(1) The rover Opportunity found that the present level of salt concentrations in
the bedrock layers at Meridiani indicate that the ancient acidic briny sea at Meridiani were 1,000 times saltier than our Earth's oceans. Bad news for Robert Clark.

(2) The rover Spirit discovered martian dirt at Gusav's hills composed of upto 90 percent
silicate...indicating persistent hot springs there ages ago.

(3) The orbiter Odyssey found that the martian polar icecap in the northern hemisphere
has distinctive alernating layers of ice and dust that indicate that thawing occurred
iin that region of Mars, not far from Phoenix, less than 5 million years ago.
Mar wobbly axis was involved.

Finally, the program indicates that many scientists now believe that 3-5 gigayears ago, Mars
had a large asteroid moon [the size of Vesta or Ceres?] that tidally flexed the martian crust
and stirred up the molten core, keeping it from cooling rapidly, allowing the ancient
global martian magnetic-field to persist.

And then the ancient martian [Vesta-sized?] moon impacted the martian northern hemisphere,
giving scientists an answer as to why....
> why Mars lost most of its atmosphere so quickly long ago [blasted away by the impact;
most of the rest sputtered away over a long time].
>why Mars lost most of its water [the same way; the rest froze or sputtered out into interplanetary space over ages].
>why Mars lost its global magnetic-field as a result; the core and mantle cooled quickly.
> why two distinct martian hemispheres emerged: a heavily cratered rugged highland
in the southern hemisphere; and a relatively craterless flat lowland plain in the northern
hemisphere.

So we don't need the White Mars theory to explain those questions anymore if the
scientists at JPL are correct.