Success! NASA Spacecraft Confirms Martian Water
Posted on July 31, 2008
Above is a graphic of the tweet from the Mars Phoenix Twitter that water had been confirmed on the surface of the planet Mars. NASA also reported on its website that the NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has confirmed water in a soil sample on Mars. The Phoenix Mars Lander has instruments that allow it to heat up soil samples and then identify the vapors that these heated samples produce.
An ice-containing sample made it into the TEGA oven. I can now say I'm the first mission to Mars to touch and then
— MarsPhoenix (@MarsPhoenix) July 31, 2008
*taste* the water. FTW!
William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, says in the announcement, "We have water. "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 and tasted."
NASA's news release also says the Phoenix Mars Rover's mission has been extended through September 30th.
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