Liquid droplets seem to form and move on the leg of the Phoenix Mars lander, as seen in images taken on days 8, 31, and 44 (seen above from left to right) of the craft's mission.
Scientists think the water could stay liquid even in the frigid Martian arctic because of its high concentration of perchlorates, salts that acts like antifreeze.
See more at
National Geographic.
There is water ice on Mars within reach of the Mars Phoenix Lander, NASA scientists announced Thursday.
Photographic evidence settles the debate over the nature of the white material seen in photographs sent back by the craft. As seen in lower left of this image, chunks of the ice sublimed (changed directly from solid to gas) over the course of four days, after the lander's digging exposed them.
Their suspicions about water ice beneath the surface of Mars confirmed, scientists and the world will have renewed interest in the outcome of the soil analyses currently being conducted by the lander.
The samples are being examined for traces of organic molecules, among other substances, but the lander does not have instruments that could directly detect life.
More.
The robotic arm with a backhoe dug into the surface to retrieve samples leaving a footprint behindNASA's Phoenix lander may have already hit pay dirt with its first scoop of Martian soil.
Phoenix touched down in Mars's north polar region on 26 May and quickly started beaming back images of its surroundings.
The $420-million spacecraft has now gouged out its first scoopful of Martian dirt from an area informally known as the Knave of Hearts, using its 2.3-metre robotic arm.
Ice or salt?
"The material is crushable," said Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, US, co-investigator for Phoenix's robotic arm, at a press conference on Monday. "It's sand with a fair amount of soil and dust."
The practice scoop was emptied onto a designated dump area nearby, but not before a camera snapped images revealing mysterious white streaks in the reddish dirt. The bright streaks appear in both the excavated soil and in the hole from which it came.
"That bright material might be ice or salt," Arvidson said. "We're eager to do testing of the next three surface samples [to be] collected nearby to learn more about it."
More.
