Nasa's Phoenix Mars lander 'discovers ice'

By Nick Allen

Nasa scientists believe they have found ice buried on Mars.

Phoenix Mars lander begins testing Martian soil Phoenix Mars lander takes detailed pictures of alien dust Telegraph science homepage The Phoenix Mars lander exposed bits of what appeared to be ice while digging a trench near the Martian north pole. The trench dubbed 'Dodo-Goldilocks' Crumbs of bright material initially photographed in the trench later vanished, meaning they are likely to have been frozen water that vaporized after being exposed. The Nasa mission’s principal investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona, said: “These little clumps completely disappearing over the course of a few days, that is perfect evidence that it's ice. “There had been some question whether the bright material was salt. Salt can’t do that.” The Phoenix Mars lander is studying whether the arctic region of the Red Planet could be habitable. It is using its robotic arm to dig up soil samples and scientists have been hoping it will find frozen water. The bright material was seen in the bottom of a trench dubbed “Dodo-Goldilocks” that Phoenix enlarged on Sunday. advertisement Several of the bright crumbs were gone when the spacecraft looked into the trench again early on Thursday, NASA said. Phoenix’s arm also encountered a hard surface while digging another trench called “Snow White 2” and scientists are hopeful of uncovering an icy layer there, the space agency said. In 2002 the orbiting Mars Odyssey probe detected hints of a vast store of ice below the surface of polar regions on Mars. 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. Phoenix landed near the Martian north pole on May 25 and the £200 million mission is planned to last 90 days.