Washington - The white material on Mars uncovered by the
robotic arm of the Phoenix probe is ice, NASA scientists say.
'We have found proof that this hard bright material is really
water ice and not some other substance,' Peter Smith of the
University of Arizona said in a transcript of a press briefing
released late Friday.
Since Phoenix landed on Mars in May, it has been digging around
its landing spot near the north pole. Mars programme scientists have
been using a 'follow the water' strategy in exploring Mars, with a
view to some day sending a human mission there.
The ice has not yet been analysed, but the behaviour of the white
stuff spotted from a camera image delivered the evidence, scientists
said.
The chunks that Phoenix uncovered on Sunday were still present the
next day but had vaporized by Thursday, said Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M
University. If the white stuff had been carbon-dioxide ice, it would
not have remained stable for even a day as a solid, he said.
Last week,the 420-million-dollar Phoenix managed to fill one of
its ovens with dirt and began to bake and analyse the contents. The
next step will be to recover ice and put it in the oven for analysis.
The first evidence of water on Mars was found by the Odyssey
orbiter in 2002, and NASA has now went the rover to the northern area
of the planet, where it believes there are heavier concentrations of
ice in the ground.
USA
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