Scientists were pretty sure that their latest robot explorer, the Phoenix Lander, would discover water ice on Mars, but there was still cause for rejoicing when the Phoenix’s latest snapshots confirmed that they’d found it. [T]o actually see the ice was “tremendously exciting,” [principle investigator Peter] Smith said. “One of the biggest fears I’ve had on the mission is that we’d dig and dig and never find anything” [The New York Times].
The breakthough came over the course of the week. On Sunday, the Phoenix used its robotic arm to enlarge a trench it had been digging in the Martian soil, and snapped pictures of small white chunks at the bottom of the pit. NASA scientists said the white material could be either ice or a form of salt, and that time would tell. Yesterday, when the Phoenix took new photos of the same trench, scientists saw that many of the white chunks had vanished. That means the chunks were small pieces of ice that vaporized upon being exposed to the air, in a phase-change called sublimation. Salt could not undergo such a transformation, NASA says.
NASA’s motto for its Mars mission is “follow the water,” and the agency set the Phoenix down near the Martian north pole because evidence indicated that the lander would have the best chance of finding water ice there. In 2002, the orbiting Mars Odyssey detected hints of a vast store of ice below the surface of Mars’ polar regions. The arctic terrain where Phoenix touched down has polygon shapes in the ground similar to those found in Earth’s permafrost regions. The patterns on Earth are caused by seasonal expansion and shrinking of underground ice [AP].
The next step is to heat a sample containing ice and dirt in one of the Phoenix’s tiny ovens, and to look for chemical traces indicating whether or not liquid water ever existed on the planet. Mars is currently far too cold for liquid water, but scientists think that the planet’s axis could have shifted over the past 10 million years, which could have tipped the north pole closer to the sun and warmed it up. If liquid water ever existed on Mars, there’s a greater possibility that primitive life could have evolved.
Meanwhile, digging in a different trench on Thursday, the scoop at the end of the Phoenix’s robotic arm hit a hard surface — possibly a hard icy layer — that did not yield after three efforts. The hard layer is at the same depth as the white material in the first trench. The robotic arm has a scraper and, if necessary, a small drill to break off pieces of the hard material for analysis in one of the ovens, which would determine the chemical composition [The New York Times].
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University/NASA Ames
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June 20th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
[...] finding of ice on Mars is announced on the Phoenix Lander’s Twitter feed, with lots of unnecessary [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
this is good news. becaus in a hundred years we could actually have full-blown civilizations on mars that would not depend on earth to survive enabling the human race to keep growing. its one more step for humanity on its long trek across the universe.
June 20th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
white stuff that sublimated– therefore water.
Not good enough. They(Nasa) should run the stuff through their analyzers
and tell us that they have found water –with what salts, etc.
Also they are supposed to tell us whether DNA is in the water, and with what twist.
I believe we shouldn’t rush to make statements based on unscientific
obsevations. Let’s get on with the analysis.
June 20th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
I agree, analyzing the soil and the white substance will be fascinating, and will be the final confirmation of whether the Phoenix has found ice. But NASA does sound pretty convinced already: “It is with great pride and a lot of joy that I announce today that we have found proof that this hard bright material is really water ice and not some other substance,” said Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith.
http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu/
June 20th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
[...] Ice on Mars! from Discovery Magazine. This details the recent discovery (yesterday) that there may just be more to that red planet than meets the eye. [...]
June 20th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
I think this is very exciting news. Although conlonization at any point in time might be a little far-fetched… I have always believed that there was life on Mars, and this is definately a start. I read the article on life being formed in ice, so maybe, just maybe there might be some neat stuff in that water!
June 21st, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Yeah, it would be awful to discover that we’d been fooled by those pesky sublimating salts! Such as … um, er … let me get back to you …
:D
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
[...] It’s Official: There Is Ice on Mars [...]
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Is there a possibility it is dry ice?
June 25th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
This is awsome.
I’m going home to pack my bags. When do we leave? Can I fly with Major Tom?
Well, although exciting it will be decades before we actually go there for good. Even then it will be very expensive and hard living. Sure we have a ‘planned’
June 25th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Just as long as UUUULLLLAAAA DOESN’t make itself known, oh and I’ll have vodka and coke with that ice, thank you.! (-:
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Why is NASA/JPL/AU promoting this “Discovery of Water Ice” has something new??? Viking Lander discovered and observed water ice 32 years ago!!!
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WGF-457CXN8-C&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=c369e7f535f1777c1332d7a3a72fb020
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