Diffuse Gas Explosive Erosion - I worked on the Mars Phoenix Lander data analysis with Manish as part of an ENG 450 project in BSE +1. Yes, I'm that old. It has been little more than a year since I met Manish and Professor Renno, but it's amazing how far I have come since then. For one, I have Manish's desk and have started recruiting ENG 450 students of my own. My, how the tables have turned!
Phoenix Lander blasts away Martian dirt, uncovers new way to dig
By Kunio M. Sayanagi
Scientists 
continue to analyze the data returned by the Phoenix mission to Mars. On May 25th, 2008, when Phoenix touched down on Mars, the lander’s thrusters blasted away as much as 18cm of Martian soil underneath the probe and exposed a layer of ice. While the discovery of the subsurface ice generated a great deal of excitement, some scientists were puzzled, because Phoenix’s relatively weak rocket engines, with 30 percent less total thrust than those of the Viking Mars Landers in the '70s, shouldn’t have excavated that much dirt.
In a new study led by Manish Mehta of the University of Michigan, scientists recreated Mars-like conditions in a laboratory to understand what happened when Phoenix landed. Their study led to a discovery of a new phenomenon in which a rocket plume excavates underlying soil explosively. It was published in this month’s issue of planetary science journal Icarus.
Read more at ars technica
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