We have water – Phoenix Mars Lander has identified water on Mars
The water was identified on Wednesday, July 30, 2008, when vapors were released after a soil sample was heated. The vapor was identified to contain water. Laboratory tests aboard NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander have identified water in a soil sample. The soil sample came from a trench approximately 2″ deep. The lander’s robotic arm delivered sample Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by the heating of samples.
“We have water,” said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal & Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA.
We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched & tasted.
